LIBRARY 

OF  THK 

University  of.  California. 


GIFT  OP^ 


Accession ^£4575 Class      fcQij^ 


*>*! 


THE 

RATIONAL  METHOD  IN  READING 


AN   ORIGINAL  PRESENTATION   OF  SIGHT  AND   SOUND    WORK 

THAT  LEADS  RAPIDLY  TO  INDEPENDENT  AND 

INTELLIGENT   READING 


BY 

EDWARD   Gk   WARD 

Associate  Superintendent  of  Public  Instruction,  Brooklyn,  N.Y. 


Manual  of  Instruction 

FOR  THE   USE  OF  TEACHERS 


SILVER,   BURDETT   &   COMPANY 

New  York         BOSTON  Chicago 
1900 


"*/t 


THE 


RATIONAL  HETHOD   IN   READING 


First 
Year. 


Second 
Year. 


Part   I. 

Part  II. 


Part    I. 


Part 


PRIMER. 

Material :  Conversations. 
Reading  by  the  Word  Method.  * 

Sight  and  Phonetic  Reading  Combined. 

FIRST   READER. 

Material:  Conversations  and  Stories. 

Largely  Review- 


Sight  and  Phonetic  Reading. 

Exercises. 
Sight  and  Phonetic  Reading. 


Advance  Work. 


SECOND  READER. 

Material:  Stories  and  Poetry.    Literary  and  Ethical. 

Part    I.  —  Sight  and  Phonetic  Reading.    Advance  Work. 

Part  II. — Sight  and  Phonetic  Reading.  The  Remaining 
Phonograms.  Reading  with  All  the  Phono- 
grams. 

THIRD   READER. 

Material:  Stories,  Poetry,  etc.,  from  History,  Folk  Lore,  and 
Standard  Fiction.     Literary  and  Ethical. 

Parts  I.  and  II. — Sight  and  Phonetic  Reading.  Diacriti- 
cal Marks  omitted  from  the  easier  and  more 
familiar  Phonetic  Words. 


*- 


MANUAL   OF  INSTRUCTION   FOR   TEACHERS. 

PHONETIC  CARDS  — 

First  Set.     To  Accompany  the  Primer. 
Second  Set.     To  Accompany  the  First  Reader. 
Third  Set.     To  Accompany  the  Second  Reader. 

Other  volumes  forthcoming. 


~* 


Copyright,  1894,  1895,  1896,  by  Silver,  Bckdett  &  Company. 


PREFACE. 


The  method  of  teaching  reading  embodied  in  this  book  is  an  outgrowth  of  the 
author's  profound  dissatisfaction  with  the  results  of  the  word  method. 

The  latter  method,  while  it  possesses  the  undisputed  merit  of  leading  to  facility 
in  thought  gathering  during  the  first  stage  of  the  work,  proves  slow  and  cumbrous 
afterward,  fails  to  excite  the  child  to  effort,  furnishes  him  with  but  a  scanty  vocabu- 
lary, and  finally  sends  him  out  of  school  unprovided  with  a  key  by  means  of  which, 
without  further  assistance,  he  may  gain  access  to  the  treasures  of  the  language. 

The  Rational  Method  is  a  peculiar  combination  of  the  word  and  phonetic 
methods.  It  utilizes  each  for  that  part  of  the  work  to  which  it  is  especially  adapted. 
The  word  method  is  used,  first  as  principal,  because  of  its  value  in  developing  a 
habit  of  reading  thoughtfully,  and  afterward  as  auxiliary,  to  remedy  the  short- 
comings of  the  phonetic  method,  and  increase  the  stock  of  word  phonograms.  The 
phonetic  method,  which  is  introduced  by  easy  stages  during  the  ascendency  of  the 
word  method,  finally  becomes  the  principal  means  of  growth  and  progress.  It  im- 
parts power,  while  it  supplies  the  key  which  the  word  method  is  inadequate  to  give. 

The  aims  of  the  Rational  Method  are :  — 

1.  To  make  the  child  not  only  independent  in  his  reading,  but  generally  self- 
reliant. 

2.  To  enable  him  to  read  a  vastly  greater  amount  than  heretofore  in  a  given 
time,  and  thus  acquire  not  only  a  fuller  vocabulary,  but  greater  maturity  of  mind. 

3.  To  put  him  into  possession,  during  the  first  year  and  a  half  of  school  life,  of 
a  complete  "key  to  the  language,  so  that,  no  matter  how  soon  thereafter  his  schooling 
may  cease,  his  ability  to  read  will  be  assured. 

The  following  are  the  leading  features  of  the  phonetic  part  of  the  work :  — 
i.  The  presentation  of  the  sounds  and  their  symbols  (phonograms)  in  a  rational 
order ;  that  is,  an  order  in  which  the  easier  precede  the  harder.  The  easiest  sounds 
to  use  in  phonetic  reading  are  those  that  may  be  indefinitely  prolonged,  and  the 
blending  of  which  in  words  may  therefore  be  most  readily  shown  and  perceived. 
These  sounds,  the  Rational  Method  deals  with  first. 

-84575 


2  PREFACE. 

2.  The  teaching  of  an  Initial  Stock  of  phonograms  before  any  phonetic  reading 
is  done.  This  makes  provision  whereby,  when  such  reading  has  once  been  com- 
menced, it  may  be  carried  on  continuously  and  with  sufficient  wealth  and  variety  of 
material. 

3.  The  training  of  the  ear  in  the  perception  of  phonetic  blends,  before  phonetic 
reading  is  begun.  The  teacher  accomplishes  this  by  pronouncing  words  sound  by 
sound,  and  requiring  the  children  to  determine,  in  each  case,  the  word  so  pronounced. 

4.  An  extensive  and  systematic  use  of  word-phonograms  and  other  compound 
phonograms.  The  difficulty  the  child  experiences  in  determining  a  new  word,  is,  in 
general,  directly  proportional  to  the  number  of  parts  he  has  to  recognize  in  it.  By 
the  use,  then,  of  compound  phonograms,  which,  being  taught  as  wholes,  are  no 
harder  to  recognize  than  simple  ones,  hundreds  of  long  and  hard  words  are  practi- 
cally transformed  into  short  and  easy  ones.  Thus,  the  word  lightning,  which  the 
child  learning  by  this  method  reads,  I  ight  n  ing,  he  finds  no  more  difficult  than  the 
short  word  left,  in  which  also  he  has  to  recognize  and  put  together  four  separate 
sounds. 

5.  A  careful  grading  of  the  phonetic  words  introduced.  The  first  phonetic 
words  presented  contain  but  two  phonograms  each,  the  next  but  three,  and  so  on. 

6.  The  gradual  introduction  of  phonetic  words  into  the  sentence  reading.  At 
first  but  one  such  word  is  used  to  a  sentence.  This  prevents  the  phonetic  work 
from  offering  any  serious  impediment  to  the  thought  getting.  As  the  child's  percep- 
tion of  the  blend  becomes  quicker  and  clearer,  the  proportion  of  phonetic  words  is 
constantly  increased.  Finally,  when  this  perception  has  become  automatic,  or  nearly 
so,  the  reading  is  made  almost  wholly  phonetic. 

7.  Separate  daily  drills  in  the  recognition  of  the  individual  phonograms  and 
the  reading  of  single  phonetic  words.  The  purpose  of  these  is  to  cultivate  expert- 
ness.  No  other  part  of  the  work  exceeds  them  in  importance ;  as  without  them,  the 
average  child  would  never  acquire  sufficient  facility  in  sound  or  word  recognition, 
to  make  successful  phonetic  reading  a  possibility. 

Those  who  undertake  this  method  will  need :  — 

1.  To  follow  implicitly  the  directions  laid  down  in  the  Manual. 

2.  To  do  their  work  with  great  thoroughness. 

3.  To  hold  expectation  in  check  for  awhile,  and  exercise  patience,  —  looking  for 
brilliant  results  only  after  the  foundations  have  been  laid  broad  and  deep.  In  the 
numerous  schools  that  have  already  attracted  public  attention  by  their  wonderful 
success  with  this  method,  more  ground  has  invariably  been  covered  during  the  last 
five  weeks  of  the  first  term  than  during  the  preceding  fifteen. 

E.   G.  W. 

Brooklyn,  N.Y.,  June  1,  1894. 


MANUAL   OF   INSTRUCTION   FOR   TEACHERS. 


EXPLANATION  OF  TERMS    EMPLOYED. 


Phonogram.  A  written  or  printed  representation  of  a  sound,  either  simple 
or  compound. 

Examples:     f,    S,    1,    ing,    ight. 

Sight  word.  A  word  that  has  been  taught  as  a  whole,  and  is  therefore 
recognized  by  sight  alone. 

Phonetic  word.     A  word  to  be  read  by  means  of  its  phonograms. 

Sight  reading.     The  reading  of  sight  words  either  singly  or  in  sentences. 

Phonetic  reading.  The  reading  of  phonetic  words  either  singly  or  in  sen- 
tences. 

Simple  phonogram.     A  phonogram  containing  but  one  letter. 

Examples  :     8,    1,    O. 

(Excepting  I,  which  represents  a  union  of  the  sounds  of  a  and  e,  the 
simple  phonograms  stand  for  one  sound  each.) 

Compound  phonogram.     A  phonogram  containing  more  than  one  letter. 

Examples:     ing,    ight,    ip,    UI1,    neSS. 

(Every  compound  phonogram  represents  a  compound  sound,  which,  how- 
ever, is  taught  as  a  unit.) 

Word  phonogram.  A  sight  word  used  as  a  phonogram  in  the  representation 
of  a  longer  word. 

Examples:     old    in   fold,        ail    in    Sail,        an    in    man. 

3 


THE    RATIONAL    METHOD    IN    READING. 


(Word  phonograms  are  really,  of  course,  compound  phonograms,  but, 
for  the  sake  of  convenience,  the  term  "  compound  phonogram  "  is  restricted 
to  combinations  that  are  not  words.) 

Blend.     The  union  or  combination  of  sounds,  simple,  compound,  or  both,  to 
form  words. 

I. 

FIRST  HALF-YEAR'S   WORK.  — FIRST   STAGE. 

(TIME,  ABOUT  EIGHT  WEEKS.*) 


SIGHT-READING   FROM   THE   BLACKBOARD    AND   PREPARATION  FOR 
PHONETIC   READING. 


Three  lines  of  work  are  to  be  separately  practiced  every  day :  — 

1.  Sight-reading. 

2.  Drill  on  Phonograms. 

3.  Ear-training. 

1.   The  Sight-reading. 

Commence  with  the  blackboard,  using  script  characters  only,  and  teach 
the  following  list  of  sight-words  comprising  the  full  vocabulary  for  Part  I. 
of  the  Primer:  — 

a,  again,  ail,  all,  am,  an,  and,  any,  apple,  are,  at,  boy,  bread,  can,  come, 
cow,  day,  do,  does,  dog,  drink,  eat,  egg,  for,  Frank,  fruit,  full,  girl,  give, 
go,  good,  has,  have,  he,  her,  here,  him,  home,  how,  I,  ill,  in,  is,  it,  Jack, 
let,  like,  look,  make,  me,  milk,  much,  no,  not,  of,  old,  out,  picture,  play, 
see,  she,  some,  stay,  take,  tell,  that,  the,  them,  there,  they,  to,  too,  us, 
want,  water,  we,  well,  what,  where,  will,  with,  yes,  you. 

♦In  Brooklyn,  some  teachers  accomplish  this  stage  of  the  work  in  six  weeks,  while  a  few 
require  as  much  as  ten  weeks. 


MANUAL    OF    INSTRUCTION    FOR    TEACHERS.  5 

Use  the  words  in  sentences  from  the  very  beginning.  Construct  your 
own  sentences  and  make  plenty  of  them,  but  make  them  very  short.  As  far 
as  possible,  work  them  up  in  conversation  or  story  style,  several  in  succes- 
sion relating  to  one  topic.  Do  not  use  the  sentences  found  in  the  book ;  and, 
the  better  to  avoid  doing  so,  work  up  the  words  in  a  somewhat  different 
order  from  that  in  which  they  are  presented  in  the  book. 

Never  let  a  single  scholar  read  a  sentence  until  he  is  ready  to  do  so 
without  a  break.  At  the  very  first  symptom  of  hesitation  or  a  halt,  stop 
the  pupil,  and  tell  him  he  must  not  read  until  he  has  his  sentence  all  ready. 
While  he  is  getting  it  ready,  he  must  have  the  privilege  of  asking  (by  num- 
ber is  the  best  way)  for  any  word  that  he  does  not  know.  This  mode  of 
procedure,  involving,  as  it  does,  constant  waiting,  seems  to  the  inexperienced 
teacher  most  wasteful  of  time ;  but  those  whose  experience  is  riper,  well 
know  that  the  facility  it  brings  toward  the  latter  part  of  the  term  makes  up 
many  times  over  for  the  time  apparently  lost  at  the  beginning.  Do  not  fall 
into  the  common  error  when  the  children  show  a  disposition  to  hesitate,  of 
telling  them  to  hurry.  You  do  not  wish  them  to  hurry;  you  simply  wish 
them  to  read  in  a  natural  manner  without  breaks. 

As  to  expression :  —  When  a  child  reads  without  expression,  draw  it  from 
him  if  possible,  by  questions  or  remarks  on  the  subject-matter  of  the  sen- 
tence. Failing  in  this,  read  the  sentence  properly  for  him,  and  require  him 
to  read  it  after  you.  The  statement  of  the  theorists  that  if  the  child  recog- 
nizes the  words  readily,  the  expression  will  take  care  of  itself,  is  arrant  non- 
sense, as  every  practical  teacher  of  little  ones  knows.  With  a  class  that  is 
particularly  unresponsive  in  this  matter,  it  is  often  a  good  thing  in  the 
models  you  set,  to  exaggerate  somewhat  in  both  emphasis  and  inflection. 

The  scholars  should  be  taught  to  recognize  the  s  and  ing  forms  of  the 
words  just  as  they  do  the  simpler  forms.  This  recognition  may  be  easily 
brought  about  in  the  following  manner:  — 

When  half-a-dozen  singular  nouns  and  three  or  four  simple  verbs  have 
been  learned,  write  any  convenient  one  of  said  words  on  the  blackboard,  and 
have  the  pupils  tell  what  it  is.  Then  add  to  it  an  s,  and  tell  them  what  it 
now  is.  Next  write  another  of  the  words,  have  it  read  as  before,  and  add 
the  s;  but  now,  instead  of  telling  the  scholars  what  the  word  has  become, 
ask  them  to  tell  you.     Continue  this  process  until  they  distinguish  without 


6  THE    RATIONAL    METHOD    IN    READING. 

difficulty  between  the  simple  and  the  s  form  of  every  familiar  word.  Then 
teach  them  in  the  same  manner  to  recognize  the  form  that  ends  in  ing  and 
afterward  the  one  that  ends  in  ings. 

Avoid  until  near  the  end  of  the  work  words  like  goes,  making,  etc.,  in 
which  the  change  to  the  s  or  ing  form  involves  the  addition  or  the  elision 
of  an  e. 

2.   The  Drill  on  Phonograms. 

This  is  a  preparation  for  phonetic  reading.  To  be  effective,  it  must  be 
thorough.  The  material  used  is  the  Initial  Stock  of  phonograms,  compris- 
ing those  employed  in  the  first  phonetic  reading,  which  are  /,  I,  m,  n,  r,  s,  — 
a,  e,  b, —  ing,  ings,  ight,  and  ights.  That  the  preparation  for  the  phonetic 
reading  may  be  adequate,  the  drill  on  this  stock  must  begin  when  the  first 
blackboard  work  begins  and  continue  without  intermission  until  Part.  I.  of 
the  book  has  been  read. 

The  following  method  is  recommended :  — 

Begin  with  /.  Write  it  on  the  blackboard,  and  tell  the  children  what  it 
is.  Give  sound,  not  name.  (No  letter  names  are  to  be  taught  during  the 
first  half-year.)  Have  them  practice  it  a  little  while,  then  leave  it.  Many 
times  during  the  day,  ask  them  unexpectedly  what  it  is.  Next  day  teach  I 
in  the  same  manner.  Now  for  two  or  three  days,  keep  both  characters  on  the 
board,  changing  their  relative  positions  from  time  to  time,  or  writing  a  num- 
ber of  each  and  mixing  them  irregularly,  and  have  frequent  short  drills  on 
them.  Next  teach  m  in  the  same  manner,  and  drill  similarly  for  a  day  or 
two  on  all  three.  Continue  in  this  way  until  you  have  taught  from  four  to 
six  of  the  phonograms,  and  thereafter  use  Set  I.  of  the  phonetic  cards  (script 
side  only)  for  your  drills,  instead  of  the  blackboard. 

In  using  the  cards,  proceed  as  follows :  — 

Stand  in  one  of  the  front  corners  of  the  room  where  every  member  of  the 
class  can  see  distinctly,  holding  in  your  hand  the  cards  for  all  the  phono- 
grams thus  far  learned.  Taking  the  scholars  in  order,  show  each  a  phono- 
gram. If  he  does  not  name  it  instantly  (interpret  this  word  literally),  call 
out  tell,  and  have  the  others  prompt  him.  This  will  cause  every  child  to 
study  every  phonogram,  and  will  greatly  increase  the  effectiveness  of  the 
drill.     If  the  proper  rate  of  speed  is  maintained,  you  will  "go  round"  a 


MANUAL    OF    INSTRUCTION    FOR    TEACHERS.  7 

class  of  fifty  in  two  or  three  minutes.  It  will  probably  be  sufficient  to  do 
this  two  or  three  times  each  day.  At  first  most  of  the  scholars  will  miss. 
Pay  no  attention  to  this.  Above  all,  find  no  fault  with  it.  In  a  few  days 
you  will  note  a  decided  improvement.  Finally,  most  of  the  scholars  will  be 
able  to  name  any  of  the  single  phonograms  without  hesitation.  This  is  what 
they  must  be  able  to  do  before  they  can  read  by  means  of  these  characters. 
Aside  from  this,  the  ability  to  concentrate  their  attention  quickly,  which 
this  simple  exercise,  persevered  in,  will  give  your  pupils,  will  be  of  great 
value  both  to  you  and  to  them  in  more  than  one  direction. 

Three  cautions  are  necessary  to  complete  this  part  of  the  subject :  First, 
Never  attempt  to  teach  a  phonogram  until  you  are  absolutely  sure  that  you 
know  how  to  pronounce  it  yourself.  (Directions  for  the  pronunciation  of 
the  more  difficult  phonograms  in  the  Initial  Stock  will  be  found  over  Pho- 
netic List  No.  1.)  Second,  Never  teach  a  new  phonogram  until  all  those 
previously  presented  have  been  thoroughly  learned.  Third,  Never  accept 
from  your  scholars  anything  but  the  exact  pronunciation  of  any  phonogram. 

3.   The  Ear-training. 

This,  like  the  teaching  of  the  phonograms,  is  a  preparation  for  phonetic 
reading.  Like  the  latter,  also,  it  should  begin  at  the  very  commencement  of 
the  term  and  be  practiced  daily.  With  brisk  work,  five  minutes  a  day  should 
suffice  for  it. 

Conduct  the  exercise  as  follows :  — 

Tell  a  little  story  introducing  every  here  and  there  a  word  from  Phonetic 
List  No.  1.  Give  the  phonetic  words  by  their  sounds,  not  as  wholes,  uttering 
the  successive  sounds  rapidly  but  separately,  thus :  — 

fold,    nail    sa/,   so,    etc. 

Let  the  scholars,  in  every  case,  tell  the  word  as  soon  as  you  have  thus  pro- 
nounced it.  Whenever  they  fail  to  recognize  the  word,  repeat  it  for  them, 
this  time  running  the  sounds  together,  but  greatly  prolonging  every  sound 
except  the  last,  so  that  it  may  be  distinctly  heard.  As  a  matter  of  economy, 
you  may,  whenever  your  scholars  are  sufficiently  interested  to  justify  you 
in  so  doing,  dispense  with  the  story -work  in  this  exercise  and  use  the  single 
phonetic  words  only. 


THE    RATIONAL    METHOD    IN    READING. 


II. 

FIRST  HALF-YEAR'S   WORK.  — SECOND   STAGE. 

(TIME,  ABOUT  THREE  WEEKS.) 


SIGHT  READING  FROM  THE  PRIMER,  PART  I.,  AND  FURTHER 
PREPARATION  FOR  PHONETIC  READING. 


Three  lines  of  work  are  to  be  separately  practiced  every  day :  — 

1.  Sight-reading  from  the  Primer,  Part  I. 

2.  Drill  on  the  Phonograms. 

3.  Drill  on  the  Blend. 

1.   The  Book-reading. 

The  words  in  Part  I.  of  the  book  having  been  thoroughly  taught  and  read 
in  blackboard  sentences,  the  book  itself  next  comes  into  use.  The  book- 
reading  will  now,  of  course,  be  the  main  reading-work  of  the  day,  the  other 
exercises  being,  as  before,  auxiliary  and  preparatory  to  the  Phonetic  Reading. 

The  transition  from  script  to  print  will  be  found  an  easy  one,  very  little 
intermediate  work  being  required.  The  following  is  perhaps  as  good  a 
method  of  bridging  the  gap  between  blackboard  and  book  as  any :  — 

The  teacher  begins  by  placing  upon  the  blackboard,  in  both  script  and 
print,  a  number  of  short  sentences  from  the  reader,  the  print  under  the 
script,  thus,  — 

Cy  4»ee   isf-v-u.  ^kz/o-   tt&w  dee  P  £2/ee   me   etz€. 


I    see    you.  Do     you    see?  See    me    eat. 

and  requiring  the  children  in  the  case  of  each  sentence,  to  read  first  the 


MANUAL    OF    INSTRUCTION    FOR    TEACHERS.  9 

script  and  then  the  print.     After  they  have  done  this,  she  erases  the  script 
and  requires  them  to  read  the  print  by  itself. 

When  reasonable  success  has  been  attained  in  this  way,  she  reverses  the 
process  by  placing  sentences  as  before  on  the  blackboard  in  both  script  and 
print,  the  former  now  under  the  latter,  thus,  — 

Do     I    see    well?  Look    at    me,    Jack. 


and  requiring  the  children  to  read  only  the  print,  using  the  script  for  refer- 
ence when  necessary. 

She  next  writes  sentences  as  above,  the  script  under  the  print,  and,  cov- 
ering the  script,  requires  the  children  to  read  the  print,  uncovering  the  script 
only  as  it  becomes  necessary  to  do  so.  When  the  children  have  attained 
such  proficiency  in  reading  the  print  that  they  seldom  need  to  see  the  script, 
they  are  ready  for  the  book. 

Another  good  method  is  the  following:  — 

The  teacher  begins  by  placing  upon  the  board,  in  print  only,  any  conven- 
ient short  sentence,  say,  for  instance,  — 

Do   you   see   me? 

She  then  writes,  at  some  distance  from  the  sentence,  the  word  see,  and, 
after  the  scholars  have  pronounced  it,  requires  them  to  find  it  in  the  sen- 
tence. This  having  been  done,  she  treats  Do  in  the  same  way,  then  me,  then 
you;  taking  the  words  in  an  irregular  order.  When  all  the  words  have  thus 
been  discovered,  she  requires  some  scholar  to  read  the  sentence  as  a  whole. 

This  operation  is  repeated  again  and  again  with  other  sentences  until  the 
scholars  read  blackboard  print  pretty  well. 

The  teacher  next  directs  the  attention  of  the  children  to  some  convenient 
sentence  in  the  book,  and  writes  its  words  one  at  a  time  on  the  blackboard, 
having  each  pronounced  as  it  is  written,  and  then  found  in  the  book  sen- 
tence, which,  when  all  of  its  words  have  been  thus  determined,  is  read  as 
a  whole. 

Either  or  both  of  the  foregoing  methods  may  be  used  to  whatever  extent 
may  be  found  necessary,  not  only  as  a  preliminary  to  the  first  book  reading, 


10  THE    RATIONAL    METHOD    IN    READING. 

but  as  a  preparation  for  successive  book  lessons  after  the  first.  If,  however, 
the  sight  words  have  been  thoroughly  taught  in  script,  the  scholars  should 
read  print  as  freely  as  they  do  script,  within  a  week  of  the  commencement, 
and  should  complete  Part  I.  of  the  book  within  three  or,  at  most,  four  weeks. 

2.  The  Drill  on  the  Phonograms, 

This  will  proceed  as  before,  the  cards  being  the  means  employed ;  but 
now  the  print  side  will  be  used  as  well  as  the  script  side.  As  the  knowl- 
edge of  the  single  phonograms  is  the  foundation  of  all  the  phonetic  reading, 
and  as  the  ability  to  utter  the  phonograms  of  a  word  in  quick  succession  is 
absolutely  essential  to  perception  of  the  blend,  too  much  stress  cannot  be 
laid  upon  the  necessity  of  thoroughly  following  the  directions  already  given 
for  this  exercise.     (See  pages  8  and  9.) 

3.  The  Drill  on  the  Blend. 

This  consists  in  the  reading  of  single  phonetic  words.  It  combines  prac- 
tice on  the  individual  phonograms,  with  the  ear-training  prescribed  for  the 
"First  Stage"  of  the  work,  separate  oral  exercises  for  the  latter,  from  this 
point  on,  being  no  longer  used.  The  material  employed  is  found  in  Phonetic 
List  No.  1,  which  is  arranged  in  sections  according  to  the  difficulty  of  the 
words  presented.  Section  B  should  not  be  used  until  the  scholars  can  readily 
read  words  from  section  A ;  section  C,  until  they  can  readily  read  words 
from  section  B,  and  so  on. 

The  following  is  the  best  method  of  procedure  :  — 

The  teacher  at  the  beginning  writes  upon  the  blackboard  some  word  from 
section  A,  —  let  us  say  fat.  She  covers  the  at,  and,  pointing  to  the  /,  asks  the 
scholars  to  tell  what  it  is  (sound).  She  then  covers  the  /and  asks  what  the 
at  is.  Finally  she  uncovers  the  whole  word  and  asks  the  scholars  to  put  the 
two  sounds  together,  and  tell  what  word  they  make.  If  they  cannot  do  this, 
she  herself  tells,  making  the  /,  when  she  pronounces  the  word,  long  and 
prominent.  She  then  uses  in  the  same  way  the  other  at  words,  —  mat,  Nat, 
rat,  and  sat,  —  and  then  words  of  other  series. 

As  soon  as  the  scholars  have  acquired  sufficient  ability  to  read  words  in 
this  way,  the  teacher  ceases  to  present  them  in  series,  but  takes  them  hence- 


MANUAL    OF    INSTRUCTION    F0R    TEAgffiHBBSf  1  ±± 

forth  irregularly.  She  ceases,  also,  to  assist  the ^*4flg£SiJ8B^rig  first  one 
phonogram  and  then  the  other. 

After  the  first  few  days  of  blend-work,  from  thirty  to  fifty  single  words 
from  Phonetic  List  No.  1  should  be  read  by  the  scholars  from  the  blackboard 
every  day,  until  Part  I.  of  the  book  is  read  through.  Arid  for  the  encourage- 
ment of  the  weaker  scholars,  the  first  of  these  words,  as  well  as  every  second 
or  third  word  thereafter,  should  be  an  extremely  easy  one  that  all  who  will  try 
can  get.  This  is  a  very  important  point.  A  glimmer  of  light  here  and  there 
will  keep  the  dull  scholars  trying;  while  persistent  discouragement  will 
ultimately  kill  all  desire  to  try.  The  teacher  should  ever  keep  it  in  mind 
that  the  object  is  not  to  have  the  words  memorized,  but  to  give  the  scholars 
ability  to  read  them  by  their  phonograms.  As  there  are  but  about  220 
words  in  all  in  Phonetic  List  No.  1,  the  words  given  after  the  first  few 
days  will  involve  many  repetitions  of  words  previously  given ;  but,  if  the 
words  are  always,  as  they  should  be,  selected  at  random,  there  will  be  no 
memorizing  of  them  as  wholes  to  speak  of,  and  therefore  no  interference 
with  the  phonetic  reading. 

No  less  work  than  the  amount  prescribed  above  will  do.  Perception  of 
the  blend  comes  slowly  to  many  scholars ;  but  when  it  does  come,  it  comes 
to  stay.     Practice  will  make  them  perfect ;  notJiing  else  will. 

The  exercise  must  be  so  conducted  that  every  scholar  is  constantly  hop- 
ing to  get  the  next  word.  This  will  cause  every  one  to  attend  closely  through- 
out, and  get  the  full  benefit  of  the  lesson ;  whereas  a  method  that  leads  the 
scholar  to  look  for  his  turn,  and  nothing  else,  will,  most  likely,  be  barren  of 
results. 

One  most  important  direction  remains  to  be  given.  If  the  phonograms 
are  well  learned,  there  will  be  a  strong  tendency  among  the  pupils,  the 
moment  a  phonetic  word  is  presented,  to  whisper  the  sounds  to  themselves. 
The  buzzing  thus  produced  must  not  be  checked.  It  is  not  disorder.  It  is 
the  only  means  by  which  beginners  of  average  ability  can  get  at  the  words. 
For  several  months  they  cannot  carry  the  sounds  mentally  so  as  to  get  the 
blend.  They  must  actually  hear  them.  The  unwillingness,  of  teachers  with 
wrong  ideas  of  discipline  to  permit  this  perfectly  natural  process  to  go  on, 
is  one  among  several  reasons  why  phonetic  reading  has  hitherto  generally 
proved  a  failure. 


12  THE    RATIONAL    METHOD    IN    READING. 

III. 

FIRST   HALF-YEAR'S   WORK.  — THIRD   STAGE. 

(TIME,  ABOUT  NINE  WEEKS.) 


COMBINED    SIGHT  AND   PHONETIC    READING,   FROM    THE   PRIMER, 

PART  II,   WITH  AUXILIARY  EXERCISES   TO  STRENGTHEN 

AND  PERFECT  THE  WORK. 


Three  lines  of  work  are  to  be  separately  practiced  every  day :  — 

1.  Reading  from  the  Primer,  Part  II. 

2.  Drill  on  the  Phonograms. 

3.  Drill  on  the  Blend. 

1.   The  Book-reading. 

This  differs  from  the  reading  in  Part  I.  in  this :  That  nearly  every  sen- 
tence contains  some  phonetic  reading.  At  first  the  quantity  is  small,  but  one, 
or,  at  most,  two  phonetic  words  being  used  in  a  sentence.  The  reason  for  thus 
limiting  the  phonetic  work  is  that  the  children  being  yet  somewhat  slow  in 
perception  of  the  blend,  too  many  phonetic  words  would  prove  an  obstruc- 
tion to  the  thought-getting.  New  sight-words  are  added  from  time  to  time, 
including  some  that  may  afterward  be  used  as  word-phonograms.  New 
phonograms  are  also  taught,  and,  as  a  consequence,  phonetic  words  differing 
slightly  in  character  from  those  previously  used  are  constantly  introduced ; 
but  in  no  case  are  new  sight-words  presented  in  the  same  lesson  with  a  new 
phonogram. 

In  this  mixed  sight  and  phonetic  reading,  as  in  the  sight-reading  on  the 
blackboard,  used  in  Part  I.,  no  scholar  must  ever  be  allowed  to  read  a  sentence 
until  he  is  ready  to  do  so  without  a  halt  or  break.  At  the  very  first  indica- 
tion of  a  break,  he  must  be  stopped  and  told  not  to  begin  again  until  he  is 
ready ;  but  while  he  is  getting  ready,  he  must  be  permitted  to  tell  (by  num- 
ber) which  word  he  cannot  get.  If  it  be  a  sight-word,  he  must  be  told  ;  if  a 
phonetic  word,  he  must  be  asked  to  give  its  sounds,  and  then,  failing  to 


MANUAL    OF    INSTRUCTION    FOR    TEACHERS.  13 

recognize  the  word,  to  give  them  faster.  Finally,  if  he  cannot  get  the  word, 
the  other  scholars  must  be  called  upon  to  tell  him. 

Special  phonetic  preparation  should  be  made  for  every  lesson  in  the  book 
as  follows :  — 

Before  the  lesson  is  attacked  by  the  class,  all  the  phonetic  words  it  con- 
tains should  be  written  (or  printed)  on  the  blackboard  with  the  proper  marks. 
These  words  should  then  be  read  by  the  scholars  several  times  as  a  blend 
drill.  Whenever  this  is  done,  the  separate  "  Drills  on  the  Blend  "  prescribed 
below  (3)  may  be  reduced  by  the  number  of  words  thus  practiced  for  the  lesson. 

2.  The  Drill  on  the  Phonograms. 

This  must  be  continued  daily  throughout  the  course.  No  new  phonogram 
should  be  taught  more  than  a  day  or  two  in  advance  of  the  reading  lesson  over 
which  it  appears.  Whenever  a  new  phonogram  is  taught,  the  card  that  con- 
tains it  must  be  added  to  the  number  used  in  the  daily  drills.  The  knowl- 
edge of  the  individual  phonograms  being  the  foundation  upon  which  the 
whole  superstructure  in  phonetic  reading  rests,  the  daily  repetition  of  all 
thus  far  taught  is  in  a  certain  sense  a  review  of  the  entire  subject,  which 
will  do  wonders  in  the  way  of  bringing  together,  at  the  end  of  the  term, 
scholars  whose  previous  training  and  opportunities  for  attending  school  have 
been  widely  different. 

3.  The  Drill  on  the  Blend. 

Perception  of  the  blend  comes  rapidly  to  a  favored  few,  but  to  the  aver- 
age scholar  only  as  a  result  of  careful  training.  The  practice,  therefore,  in 
phonetic  reading  afforded  by  sentences  that  contain  but  one  or  two  phonetic 
words  each,  is  but  a  small  portion  of  what  is  required  that  proficiency  may 
be  attained.  For  this  reason,  you  must  give  your  scholars,  on  the  black- 
board, every  day,  at  least  thirty  or  forty  single  phonetic  words  to  read. 
The  words  are  to  be  selected  largely  from  the  Phonetic  List  that  accompanies 
the  phonogram  last  learned,  but  many  words  from  lists  previously  used 
should  be  mingled  with  them.  Remember  the  directions  previously  given, 
to  have  many  extremely  easy  words  distributed  among  the  others  for  the 
encouragement  of  the  duller  pupils,  and  remember  that  the  "buzzing" 
which  the  scholars  make  in  trying  to  get  at  the  words  "  under  their  breath," 
being  necessary,  is  not  disorderly,  and  must  not  be  suppressed. 


14  THE    RATIONAL    METHOD    IN    READING. 

IV. 
LATER  WORK. 


1.  Second  Half- Year. 

The  work  of  the  second  half-year  does  not  differ  essentially  from  that  of 
the  "  Third  Stage  "  in  the  first  half-year.  New  phonograms  are,  of  course, 
introduced  from  time  to  time,  as  well  as  new  sight  words;  while  the 
subject-matter  becomes  less  simple  and  the  sentences  grow  longer. 

During  the  first  and  second  half-years,  the  use  of  supplementary  readers 
is  not  recommended;  though  many  Brooklyn  teachers  employ  them  after 
the  first  half-year  very  successfully.  The  author  believes  that  the  best 
possible  provision  of  additional  matter,  throughout  the  first  year,  is  that  which 
every  thoughtful  teacher  will  make  for  herself,  in  the  shape  of  blackboard 
lessons  in  script,  which  will  afford  extra  drill  upon  words  and  phonograms 
already  learned.  Through  these  blackboard  lessons,  by  teaching  such  new 
sight  words  as  may  be  found  necessary,  the  teacher  may  bring  the  reading 
into  close  correlation  with  animal  and  plant  study,  etc. 

2.  Third  and  Fourth  Half-Years. 

The  last  of  the  phonograms  is  taught  about  the  middle  of  the  third  half- 
year,  and  the  time  has  then  arrived  for  the  free  use  of  supplementary 
readers.  Otherwise,  the  work  of  this  half-year  differs  from  that  of  the 
preceding  one  only  in  grade. 

In  the  fourth  half-year,  the  only  important  change  made  beside  the  pro- 
vision of  subject-matter  of  a  higher  grade,  is  the  introduction  of  many 
phonetic  words  without  the  diacritical  marks  to  which  the  scholars  have 
been  accustomed.  During  the  third  and  fourth  half-years,  i.e.  during  the 
second  year,  scholars  that  have  been  well  taught,  will,  without  difficulty, 
complete  from  ten  to  fourteen   supplementary  readers,  and  their  mental 


MANUAL    OF    INSTRUCTION    FOR    TEACHERS.  15 

horizon,   if   the    books    have    been  well    chosen,   will   be    correspondingly 
extended. 

3.   Fifth  and  Sixth  Half- Years. 

In  the  fifth  and  sixth  half-years,  the  latter  of  which  completes  the  course, 
still  more  advanced  subject-matter  is  provided,  and  the  diacritical  marks 
are  entirely  omitted  from  the  text,  though  they  are  still  used  in  blend  drills, 
one  of  which  is  given  at  the  head  of  each  lesson,  as  a  preparation  therefor. 

Both  of  the  mechanical  drills  are  practised  daily  throughout  the  course  of 
three  years  to  secure  full  development  of  power  as  well  as  to  bring  together 
those  scholars  that  have  pursued  the  course  from  the  outset  and  those  that 
have  entered  upon  it  at  various  times  thereafter. 

In  the  front  part  of  each  book  above  the  Primer  are  given  special  direc- 
tions for  the  teacher,  which  should  be  very  carefully  read. 


LISTS   OF  PHONETIC   WORDS 

FOR   USE    IN    BLEND    DRILLS    AND    IN    BLACKBOARD 
SENTENCE    READING. 


RULES    FOR    MARKING    OBSERVED    IN    THESE   LISTS. 

1.  Sight-words  (words  taught  as  wholes)  unconibined  with  other  words 
should  not  be  marked. 

2.  A  sight-word  found  within  another  word  and  having  there  its  usual 
sound,  should  be  set  off  as  a  single  phonogram  by  an  underdrawn  horizontal 
line. 

Examples:       ail  in   fail,       ails  in   fails,       an   in  ant. 

3.  A  compound  phonogram  used  as  a  part  of  a  word  should  ordinarily  be 
set  off  as  a  single  phonogram  by  an  underdrawn  horizontal  line. 

Examples:      iglltS   in   fights,       im   in   limp.       ingS   in    WJngS. 

pr  in  print,     cl  in  clap. 

4.  When  a  compound  phonogram  or  a  word  phonogram  forms  by  itself 
either  the  first  or  the  last  syllable  of  a  word,  it  should  not  be  marked,  but 
should  be  slightly  separated  from  the  rest  of  the  word. 

Examples:    ing  in  le^p  ing,     er  in  miller,     est  in  smallest, 
un  in  un  lik^,  un  do  ing,     be  in  be  come. 

Exception.  —  When  the  compound  phonogram  is  immediately  preceded 
or  succeeded  by  a  silent  (crossed-out)  letter,  no  other  separation  than  that 
made  by  the  silent  letter  should  occur. 

Examples:    er  in  lo^er,     un  in  unjfrio^n,     ed  in  fitted. 

16 


MANUAL    OF    INSTRUCTION    FO^T^AcS^SljFT  j  17 

5.  When  a  compound  phonogram  which  does  not,  by  itself,  form  a  syllable 
is  separated  from  the  other  phonetic  elements  of  the  word  by  a  silent  (crossed- 
out)  letter,  an  apostrophe,  or  a  division  of  syllables,  it  need  not  be  marked. 

Examples:      he  in  he^t,       bl  in  gal)l^,       end  in  fr/end, 

she  in  she's. 

6.  Other  phonograms  should  be  marked  in  words  as  they  are  marked  at 
the  heads  of  the  following  lists. 

Examples  :      €  and  O  in  €0^1,       a  in  Sap. 

7.  Silent  letters  and  letters  so  slightly  or  obscurely  sounded  that  their 
omission  will  not  involve  the  loss  of  a  syllable,  should  be  crossed  out. 

Examples:      e  in  fin^,       g  in  ^nat,       O  in  leSSj/fcl  or  mut^Il. 


=>XK< 


PHONETIC   LIST  NO.   1. 


LENGTH  LIMIT:    THREE  PHONOGRAMS. 


Phonograms.  —  f,  1,  m,  n,  r,  s,— a,  e,  o,— ing,  ings,  ight,  ights, 

—  and  short  sight-words  from  Part  I.  of  the  Primer. 

To  make  the  sound  of  I,  place  the  tip  of  the  tongue  against  the  roof  of  the 
mouth  behind  the  front  teeth,  and  holding  it  there  say  ull  (latter  part  of  full). 

To  make  the  sound  of  r,  press  the  side  edges  of  the  tongue  against  the 
upper  side  teeth,  curling  the  tip  up  until  it  almost  touches  the  roof  of  the 
mouth.  Then  say  ur,  curling  the  r  part  well  (but  not  trilling  it)  and  making 
precisely  the  same  vowel  sound  that  occurs  in  I. 

The  other  phonograms  in  this  list,  it  is  believed,  all  teachers  can  sound 
without  special  instruction. 


18  THE    RATIONAL    METHOD    IN    READING. 

Note.  — The  directions  at  the  tops  of  the  lists  are  for  the  teacher  only.  Do  not  give 
them  to  the  scholars.  Above  all,  do  not  have  the  scholars  learn  them.  They  should 
acquire  the  power  to  give  the  sounds  by  listening  and  imitating.  A  few  exceptions  will 
be  noted  as  they  occur. 

A. 

fail  fails,  fall  fan,  fat,  fight,  fights,  fill,  fm,  fit,  fits, 
fold,  land,  light,  lights,  lit,  mail,  mails,  man,  many,  mat, 
Mat,  meat,  meats,  might,  mill,  mold,  nail,  nails.  Nan, 
Nat,  neat,  night,  nights,  rail  rails,  ran,  rat,  right,  rights, 
rill,  ring,  rings,  sail,  sails,  Sam,  sand,  sat,  seat,  seats, 
sight,  sights,  sill,  sing,  sings,  sit,  sits,  sold,  swell  swells. 

B. 

Anji,  ]£no^,  oty,  6^,  fus^,  j^nat,  ]£ne^,  J£nit,  J£nite, 
lam#,  mitjU,  mus^,  sno^. 

c. 

a^m,  e^r,  e^l,  VI},  Fm,  la/,  Le^,  lo^,  ma/,  Ma/,  mo^, 
ra/,  Ra/,  ro^,  ro^,  sa/,  se^,  so,  so^,  ^ring,  ^rings. 

r>. 

eat^n,  he^l,  he^r,  he^l,  }frio^n,  ^no^ing,  me^l,  me^n, 
o^lr,  o^dng,  o^n,  seem,  seen,  shelj,  tool,  wejin,  we% 
we'r^,  you'lj,  you'r^,  your. 

cannot,  failing,  falling,  fanning,  fighting,  filling, 
folding,  landing,  light ing,  mail ing.  mold ing,  nail ing. 


MANUAL    OF  INSTRUCTION    FOR    TEACHERS.  19 

railing,    railings,   ringing,   sail ing.    seating,   seeming, 
singing,  swell  ing,  swellings,  willo^,  within,  without. 

F. 

a/ming,  fitting,  fussing,  healing,  hearing,  healing, 
JfrntjKing,  la/ing,  losing,  matting,  meaning,  moving, 
mussing,  owning,  rowing,  saving,  sa/ings,  sitting, 
snoring,  sowing,  weaning. 

G. 

fallen,  fat^n,  fats,  fe^r,  fe^l,  fo^m,  for^,  fo]ir,  ^nats, 
la^n,  lam^,  lan^,  le^f,  le^ln,  Leo,  lighten,  lrtjft^,  lo^tf, 
lo^in,  man^,  Mat's,  mats,  mrtjt^n,  mo^n,  mol^,  Mo^r^, 
mor^,  mo^n,  nam^,  Nat's,  ne^r,  ra^n,  ratjfl^,  rins^,  ro^m, 
ro^r,  rolj,  saf^,  sal^,  sam^,  satin,  se^l,  se^m,  sol^,  sor0, 
^rit^n0 

H. 

flat,  fle^,  fling,  flings,  flo^,  fre^,  fright,  slam,  slat, 
slight,  sling,  slings,  slit,  slits,  slo^,  small,  snail,  snails, 
stool. 


20  THE    RATIONAL    METHOD    IN    READING. 


PHONETIC   LIST   NO   2. 


LENGTH  LIMIT:   FOR  WORDS  ENDING  WITH  ENG,  INGS,  OR  S,  FOUR 
PHONOGRAMS;   FOR  OTHER  WORDS,  THREE. 


New  Phonogram:    s. 


(Also  a  number  of  additional  sight-words  used  in  the  Header  before  the  intro- 
duction of  this  phonogram.) 

To  make  the  sound  of  S  place  the  organs  of  speech  in  position  for  s 
and  force  the  voice  strongly,  but  not  suddenly  or  explosively,  through,  pro- 
ducing a  decided  buzzing  sound. 

a^ins,  Anji's,  another,  another's,  anyone,  anyhow, 
anyone's,  anything,  anyway,  e^rs,  efefa  e^ls,  falls,  fans, 
f atoning,  fat^ns,  fearing,  fejtrg,  feeling,  feelings,  fe^ls, 
fills,  fms,  fle^s,  flinging,  flowing,  flo^s,  forming,  fo^ins, 
folds,  fo]irs,  frjfend,  friends,  he^ls,  he^rs,  he^ls,  he's, 
however,  Jftie^ling,  ^ne^ls,  ^ne^s,  ]£no^s,  lamtts,  lamp's, 
lam^s,  laming,  lands,  lan^s,  late,  la/s,  leafing,  le^fs, 
leaning,  le^ns,  lend,  lending,  lends,  Leo's,  loaning, 
lo^ns,  lo^s,  man^s,  man's,  mate,  mates,  Ma/'s,  me^ls, 
meaning,  me^ns,  mend,  mending,  mends,  mills,  mmyto^, 
nutans,  moaning,  mo^ns,  molds,  mol^s,  Mo^r^'s,  mother, 
mothers,  mother's,  nam^s,  naming,  Nan's,  never,  nos^, 
o^rs,   onto,   o^s,   o\^ns,   overdo,   overdoes,   overcome, 


MANUAL    OF    INSTRUCTION    FOR    TEACHERS.  21 

over  eat,  over  eat^n,  over  eats,  over  look,  over  looks, 
oversee,  over  seen,  oversees,  over  sight  overtake, 
overtakes,  overtaken,  rails,  ra/ning,  ra^ns,  ra/s^, 
raising,  rate,  ratjdl^s,  rattling,  ra/s,  Ra/'s,  rills,  rinsing, 
rinsings,  rooming,  ro^ms,  roaring,  ro^rs,  ro^s,  rolling, 
roljs,  ros^,  Ros^,  ro^s,  Rover.  Rover's,  sal^s,  Sam's, 
sealing,  se^ms,  se^s,  seems,  send,  sending,  sends, 
several,  she's,  sills,  slamifting.  slams,  slate,  slats, 
slinging,  slitting,  smother,  snoring,  snovfrs,  sol^s, 
soling,  somehow,  something,  sor^s,  so^s,  stools,  sup, 
supping,  sups,  tools,  upon,  up  right,  we^ns,  we^s^l, 
willows,  yours. 

PHONETIC  LIST  NO.   3. 


LENGTH  LIMIT:    SAME  AS  FOR  LIST  NO.   2. 


New  Phonograms  :   l  and  y. 

$?h    #NS>    ^yinS>   P$f   fif^   fIf^s>   fifing,   fity,  fi% 

filing,   fin^,   fir^,   fir^s,   firing,   fly,   fli^s,   flying,  fly's, 

fry,   fri^s,   frying,   fy,   )£nif^,   li^,   li^s,   lif^,   lim^,  lin^, 

lin^s,  lining,  lying,  mil^,  mil^s,  mln^,  mir^,  my,  nin^, 

nin^s,    rls^,    rising,    ry^,    sigji,    siting,    sigjig,  si^n, 
signing,   si^ns,  sly,  ^ry. 


22  THE    RATIONAL    METHOD    IN    READING. 


PHONETIC   LIST  NO.   4. 


LENGTH  LIMIT:    SAME    AS   FOR   LIST  NO.   2. 


New  Phonograms  :  k  and  t  (as  terminals) . 

(Also  a  number  of  additional  sight-words  used  in  the  Reader  before  the  intro- 
duction of  these  phonograms.) 

ant,  ants,  be^k,  be^ks,  be^m,  beaming,  be^ms,  be^n, 
be^ns,  be^t,  beating,  bedts,  become,  becomes,  be^,  be^s, 
be^f,  be^t,  be^tl^,  be^ts,  being,  didn't,  e^st,  fe^t,  font, 
he^t,  heating,  he^ts,  lak^,  lak^s,  le^k,  leaking,  le^ks, 
lift,  mate,  mates,  me^t,  meeting,  me^ts,  mint,  mlt^, 
mit^s,  musk,  must,  not^,  not^s,  o^k,  o^iks,  o^t,  o^ts, 
rak^,  rak^s,  rak  ing,  rust,  rust  ing,  rusts,  sak^,  sak^s, 
seek,  seek  ing,  seeks,  she^t,  sheeting,  sheets,  sift,  silk, 
silks,  sle^k,  snifjf,  so^k,  soaking,  so^iks,  swe^t,  swe^t^n, 
sweats,  swing,  swinging,  swings,  we^k,  we^k^n, 
we^lk^ning,  we^k^ns,  we^k,  we^ks,  winging,  ^rit^, 
^rlt^s,  Writing,  ^rot^. 


MANUAL    OF    INSTRUCTION    FOR    TEACHERS.  23 


PHONETIC   LIST   NO.   5. 


LENGTH  LIMIT:    FOR   WORDS   ENDING   WITH  ER,    ERS,    ING,   INGS,   OR   S, 
FOUR   PHONOGRAMS ;    FOR    OTHER   WORDS,   THREE. 


New  Phonograms:   er  and  ers  (as  terminals). 

(Also  a  number  of  additional  sight-words  used  in  the  Reader  be/ore  the  intro- 
duction of  these  phonograms.) 

Pronounce  the  above  phonograms  like  ir  and  irs  in  sir  and  sirs. 

answer,  answering,  answers,  better,  betters,  be^tl^s, 
Easter,  eater,  eaters,  father,  feeler,  feelers,  flfer, 
f  If  ers,  fight  er,  fighters,  finer,  fitjter,  fitters,  fold  er, 
fold  ers,  flatter,  flyer,  flyers,  friends,  hearer,  hearers, 
inkier,  kinder,  ^nit)t!er,  )£nitjt!ers,  lamer,  later,  la/er, 
lasers,  leaner,  lender,  lenders,  lifter,  lifters,  lifting, 
lifts,  lighter,  lighters,  IrtjCer,  littering,  litters,  lo^er, 
lowering,  lowers,  maker,  makers,  manrier,  manners, 
matter,  matters,  meaner,  mend  er,  mend  ers,  milker, 
milkers,  miller,  millers,  mold  er,  mold  ers,  mo^er, 
movers,  nearer,  neater,  older,  o^ner,  owners,  raker, 
rakers,  ratjCer,  ratters,  ringer,  ringers,  roller,  rollers, 
ro^er,   rovers,   safer,    sailer,    sailers,    send  er,   send  ers, 


24  THE    RATIONAL    METHOD    IN    READING. 

sifter,  sifters,  sifting,  sifts,  singer,  sing ers.  slates, 
slighter,  slower,  slyer,  smaller,  smothering,  smothers, 
sniffing,  sniffs,  sorer,  so\^er,  sobers,  supper,  suppers, 
sweater,  thinker,  thinkers,  Tipper,  uppers,  weaker, 
wetter,  ^ringer,  Wringers,  ^riter,  Writers. 


3XX< 


PHONETIC   LIST  NO.   6. 


LENGTH  LIMIT  FOR    THIS   AND   ALL   SUCCEEDING   LISTS: 
FOUR   PHONOGRAMS. 


New  Phonograms  :   6  and  ck. 

(Also  a  number  of  additional  sight-words  used  in  the  Header  before  the  intro- 
duction of  these  phonograms.) 

acorn,  befor^,  befriend,  belief,  belo^,  corner, 
cornering,  corners,  corning,  daylight,  fa;frit,  fe^ist,  flak^, 
flamji,  fle^t,  flint,  flo^t,  flock,  flo^r,  flo^n,  foljo^,  fram^, 
Friday,  frock,  horse-fly,  }£nock,  ^nocker,  ^nockers, 
^nocking,  ^nocks,  }friot,  knots,  }£notjl!ing,  le^st,  lock, 
locking,  locks,  los^,  lost,  lot,  lots,  minjio^s,  mock, 
mocker,  mock  ers,  mocking,  mocks,  mor^o^,  mos^,  most, 
oil  of/end,  Offer,  offering,  ofjfers,  ofjtJ^n,  of^ner,  OtjUo, 


MANUAL    OF    INSTRUCTION    FOR    TEACHERS.  25 

Otjto's,  rock,  rocker,  rockers,  rocking,  rocks.  Koljo, 
rot,  rots,  rotjt^n,  rotting,  sle^k,  sle^t,  slim^,  sme^r, 
smearing,  smears,  smil^,  smok^,  snak^,  sne^k,  snor^, 
snoring,  snores,  sock,  socks,  soft,  sofji^n,  sor^o^C7, 
supjios^,  uproar. 

PHONETIC  LIST  NO.    7. 

New  Phonogram:    p  (as  a  terminal  only). 

ap^,  he^p,  helping,  he^ps,  lamp,  lamps,  le^p,  le^per, 
leaping,  le^ps,  lop,  lopjiing,  lops,  mop,  mopfiing,  mops, 
mop^,  mop^s,  moping,  op^n,  opener,  openers,  opening, 
openings,  op^ns,  re^ip,  reaper,  reapers,  reaping,  re^ps, 
rip^,  rip^n,  riper,  romp,  rop^,  rop^s,  roping,  she^p, 
sheep's,  sle^p,  slop,  slop^,  snip^,  so^p,  soaping,  so^ps, 
sop,  sopping,  sops,  stoop,  stooping,  stoops,  swe^p, 
sweeper,  sweepers,  sweeping,  sweeps,  we^p,  weeper, 
weepers,  weeping,  we^ps. 


26  THE    RATIONAL    METHOD    IN    READING. 

PHONETIC   LIST   NO.  8. 

p   and   t   anywhere;   also   pi,    pr,    and   tr. 

(Also  a  number  of  additional  sight-words  from  the  Primer.) 

Before  the  new  compound  phonograms,  pi,  pr,  and  tr,  introduced  in 
this  list,  are  memorized  or  used  in  words,  their  pronunciation  should  be 
determined  by  the  scholars  themselves. 

armpit,  Butler,  butjfer,  butting,  butjt^n,  butjl^ns, 
but]t!s,  farm,  farmer,  farming,  farms,  handle,  handles, 
hand  ling,  pail,  pails,  pa/n,  pa/ning,  pa/ns,  pa/nt,  pal^, 
paler,  pan,  pans,  pan^l,  pan^,  pan^s  paper,  papers, 
past^,  pat,  pats,  patter,  pattering,  patjfers,  patting, 
pa/,  pa/er,  papers,  pa/ing,  pa/s,  pe^,  pe^s,  pe^,  pejfl, 
peeler,  peelers,  peeling,  pe^ls,  pe^p,  peeper,  peepers, 
peeping,  pe^ps,  pe^Spl^,  pl^,  pi^s,  pil^,  pil^s,  piling, 
pill,  pills,  pm,  pm^ing,  pins,  pin^,  pining,  pin^s,  pip^; 
piper,  pipers,  plp^s,  piping,  pit,  pits,  pitting,  pla^n, 
plan,  planning,  plans,  plan^,  plant,  plate,  plates,  platjfer, 
platters,  player,  players,  playing,  pleat,  pleat  er, 
pleat ers,  pleating,  pleats,  plot,  pok^,  poker,  pokers, 
pok^s,  poking,  pol^,  pol^s,  PolJ,  Poljs,  pop,  popjier, 
poppers,  popping,  pops,  pork,  post,  pot,  pother,  pothers, 
potjfmg,    pots,    po]lr     poiiring,    poylrs,    pout,    pouter, 


MANUAL    OF    INSTRUCTION    F 


pouters,  pouting,  pouts,  pra^,  ElWr4?Ji8^5,  Pia/, 
pra/er,  pra/ers,  pra/ing,  prajfs,  prop,  pup,  pups,  sle^p, 
span,  spanning,  spans,  spat,  spats,  spatjfer,  spatters, 
spacing,  spe^k,  spe^r,  spend,  spending,  spends,  spi^s, 
splk^,  spill,  spilling,  spills,  spilt,  spin,  spinier,  spinners, 
spinning,  spins,  splr^,  spit,  spits,  spitting,  spitjKl^,  spit^, 
spok^,  spot,  spout,  spouting,  spouts,  spy,  spying,  sta^n, 
stak^,  stal^,  stall,  stalls,  stamper,  stampers,  stamp, 
stand,  standing,  stands,  sta/,  staging,  sta/s,  st^ak,  ste^l, 
ste^m,  ste^l,  ste^r,  stif^,  stil^n,  stiller,  still,  stiller, 
stock  ston^,  stol^,  stop,  stor^,  tail,  tails,  taken,  tal^, 
tal^s,  tall,  taller,  tam^,  tamer,  tamers,  tam^s,  taming, 
tan,  tanker,  tanriers,  tanking,  tans,  tap^,  taper,  tapers, 
tap^s,  tast^,  tatjKer,  tatjfers,  tatjft^,  te^,  te^s,  tefe$, 
teasing,  te^m,  tenuis,  te^r,  te^rs,  tend,  tender,  tending, 
tends,  t^er,  t^ers,  tl^,  tijfg,  tight,  tighten,  tighter,  till, 
tim^,  tim^s,  tin,  tinnier,  tinkers,  tinging,  tins,  tin0, 
tln^s,  tir^,  tir^s,  tiring,  to^st,  to^,  toeing,  to^s,  told, 
Tom,  Tom's,  ton^,  ton^s,  top,  to|Jpl^,  tops,  tor^,  torn, 
tos^,  tosher,  tossing,  tot,  totjfer,  totjfers,  totjfil^,  tra/n, 
tmff  ka/s,  treat,  trejJ,  tre^s,  trip^,  trill,  trilling,  trills, 
try,  tri^s,  trying,  tus^W,  twill,  'twill,  twilling,  twills, 
tying. 


28  THE    RATIONAL    METHOD    IN    READING. 


PHONETIC   LIST   NO.   9. 

C    and    k    anywhere;    also    cl    and    Cf. 

(Also  a  number  of  additional  sight-words  from  the  Primer.) 

Before  the  new  compound  phonograms,  cl  and  cr,  introduced  in  this 
list,  are  memorized  or  used  in  words,  their  pronunciation  should  be  determined 
by  the  scholars  themselves. 

aeji^  acjl^s,  acting,  cak^,  cak^s,  call  caller,  callers, 
calling,  calls,  cam^,  camp,  camp ing,  camps,  can,  canning, 
cans,  candid,  candles,  can^,  can^s,  caning,  cap^,  caper, 
capers,  eap^s,  eas^,  cat,  cats,  cat's,  cats',  cat]t!l^,  cla/m, 
clam,  clatter,  clatters,  da/,  cle^n,  cle^r,  clim]zJ,  cling, 
clinging,  clings,  clo^k,  clock,  clos^,  clos^,  clover,  co^l, 
co^st,  co^t,  co^ts,  coeo^,  cof^e^,  cofjfin,  cok^,  cold,  cold  er, 
colds,  colt,  com]^,  combing,  com^s,  comi/i^n,  copper, 
cor^,  cor^s,  coring,  cost,  cot,  cots,  cot^n,  cram, 
cramrfring.  crams,  cramp,  cran^,  Cran^,  crate,  cre^k, 
cre^m,  cre^k,  cre^p,  cro^k,  crock,  crop,  cros^,  cro^, 
cro^er,  cro^ers,  crowing,  cro^s,  crust,  Kate,  Kate's, 
ke^p,  keeper,  keepers,  keeping,  ke^ps,  kill,  killing, 
kills,  kit,  kits,  kit^n,  krtjt^ns,  kit^n's,  krt^ns',  oversaw, 
overwork,  peach,  preach,  preach  er,  preach  ing,  reach, 
reaching,  sawing,  scal^,  scamp,  scant,  scatter,  scatters, 
scold,  scold  er,  scolders,  scold  ing,  scolds,  Scot)!!,  see-saw, 
skate,  skiff,  sldfjfs,  skill,  skm,  skinning,  skins,  sky, 
skl^s,  teach,  teach  er,  teaching,  whoever,  whom,  who's, 
whos^.  whosever,  worker,  workers,  working,  workman- 


MANUAL    OF    INSTRUCTION    FOR    TEACHERS.  29 


WRITING   AND   SPELLING. 


The  teaching  of  writing  and  spelling  should  begin  almost  simultaneously 
with  that  of  reading.  Up  to  the  time  of  the  completion  of  the  Primer, 
there  should  be  no  attempt  at  oral  spelling,  and  the  calling  of  letters  by  their 
names  should  be  carefully  avoided;  for,  until  the  scholars  have  become 
strong  in  the  use  of  the  letters  as  phonograms,  their  names  prove  stumbling- 
blocks  in  the  reading. 

The  words  used  for  writing  and  spelling  should  be  presented,  then,  as 
wholes;  and  when  it  becomes  necessary  to  direct  attention  to  a  particular 
letter,  it  should  be  designated  as  "this  letter,''  "that  letter,"  "the  first 
letter,"  "the  last  letter,"  "the  second  letter,"  etc. 

The  following  plan  for  the  teaching  of  written  spelling  (writing  and  spell- 
ing), having  produced  most  excellent  results  in  connection  with  this  method 
of  teaching  reading,  is  heartily  recommended. 

The  teacher  selects  for  the  first  lesson  some  very  short  and  easy  sentence 
that  the  children  have  already  learned  to  read, —  say,  I  see.1  This  she  writes 
upon  the  blackboard  over  and  over  again  in  the  presence  of  the  scholars 
before  she  suffers  them  to  copy  it,  calling  attention  each  time  to  the  place 
at  which  she  begins,  the  direction  in  which  she  makes  her  strokes,  etc. ;  so 
that,  before  the  scholars  try,  they  know  quite  definitely  what  they  are  to  do. 

She  next  requires  them  to  copy  and  recopy  the  sentence  until  she  finds 
by  trial  that  they  can  reproduce  it  without  copy. 

She  now  sets  them  a  new  copy,  containing  the  two  words  already  used  and 
one  other  that  they  have  already  learned  to  read, —  say,  can, —  making  the 
sentence,  I  can  see.  This  they  copy  and  recopy  like  the  first  sentence,  until 
it  is  found  by  trial  that  they  can  reproduce  it  unaided  by  a  copy.  Proceeding 
in  the  same  way,  she  gives  them  for  their  next  copy,  I  see  a  man ;  for  their 
next,  See  me,  man;  for  their  next,  See  me  eat;  and  so  on,  until  they  have 
acquired  a  writing  vocabulary  of  from  eight  to  twelve  words. 

i  Other  selections  will  do  as  well  as  those  used  here. 


30  RATIONAL,    METHOD    IN    READING. 

Before  teaching  any  more  words,  she  makes  as  many  new  declarative 
and  imperative  sentences  as  possible  with  the  words  already  acquired,  no 
sentence  containing  more  than  four  words,  and  has  the  scholars  write  them 
from  dictation. 

She  then  resumes  the  word-teaching  process,  using  for  her  copies  inter- 
rogative as  well  as  declarative  and  imperative  sentences,  and  teaching,  of 
course,  the  use  of  the  interrogation  mark.  Now,  however,  instead  of  pre- 
senting one  new  word  at  a  time,  she  presents  two,  but  without  increasing 
sentence-lengths.  For  example,  if,  at  this  stage  of  the  work,  four  words  are 
deemed  a  proper  length  for  the  sentence,  the  make-up  should  be  two  old 
words  with  two  new  ones,  not  three  old  words  and  one  new  one :  experience 
having  proved  that  the  length  of  the  sentence  remaining  the  same,  two  new 
words  are  acquired  almost,  if  not  quite,  as  quickly  as  one. 

When  a  few  additional  new  words  (perhaps  half-a-dozen)  have  been  thus 
acquired,  word-teaching  again  ceases  for  a  short  time,  and  is  replaced  by 
exercises  in  writing,  from  dictation,  new  sentences,  both  declarative  and 
interrogative,  made  up  of  the  words  thus  far  learned. 

The  sentences  used  during  the  first  half-year,  whether  for  copy  or  dicta- 
tion, should  never  exceed  six  words  in  length,  and  should  attain  this  dimen- 
sion only  toward  the  end  of  that  period. 

Dictated  sentences  should  be  read  to  the  scholars  clearly  and  deliberately, 
no  one  being  permitted  to  begin  writing  or  even  to  look  down  at  the  slate 
or  paper  until  the  teacher  has  ceased  to  speak,  and  should  never  be  repeated 
for  inattentive  or  forgetful  scholars.  The  only  possible  justification  for 
repetition  is  an  interruption  (such  as  loud  noise  or  the  entrance  of  a 
stranger)  that  prevents  attentive  as  well  as  inattentive  scholars  from  catch- 
ing the  matter  dictated. 

In  selecting  material  for  the  written  work,  good  judgment  will  need  to 
be  exercised.  At  first,  whatever  the  nature  of  the  words  employed,  they 
should  be  composed  of  short  letters  only  and  should  begin  as  far  as  possible 
with  letters  that  are  alike  in  both  the  capital  and  small  letter  form.  After 
the  first  few  weeks,  however,  no  attempt  should  be  made  to  grade  the 
written  spelling  work  from  the  standpoint  of  penmanship.  The  faults  in 
the  latter  should  be  corrected  by  means  of  separate  exercises  or  drills. 


MANUAL    OF    INSTRUCTION    FOR    TEACHERS.  31 

The  words  chosen  for  spelling  should  all  be  taken  from  matter  previously- 
read.  That  is,  they  should  be  words  that  the  children  already  know  by 
sight.  The  main  consideration  in  the  choice  of  a  word  should  be  its  useful- 
ness, the  most  useful  words  being  those  from  which  the  largest  number  of 
sentences  can  be  formed.  These  are  not  confined  to  any  one  or  two  parts 
of  speech,  but  have  numerous  representatives  in  every  one.  Among  the 
words  selected  a  few  of  the  homonyms  should  find  places.  No  one  of  these 
should  ever  be  presented  to  the  children  except  in  such  connection  with 
other  words  as  will  absolutely  ensure  the  proper  association  of  meaning  with 
form  (spelling).  On  no  account  should  both  members  of  a  pair  of  homo- 
nyms be  taught  together.  The  scholars  should  be  confirmed  in  the  correct 
use  of  one  by  weeks  of  practice  before  the  other  is  presented.  Above  all  to 
be  avoided,  is  the  pernicious  practice  of  using  both  members  of  a  pair  in 
one  and  the  same  sentence :  a  practice  that  even  with  older  scholars  leads 
to  the  most  deplorable  confusion. 

The  sentence  method  above  described  for  written  spelling  is  the  only  good 
method  for  beginners.  At  first  it  is  slow,  and,  unless  the  teacher  is  prepared 
to  be  patient,  discouraging.  The  teaching  of  the  first  little  sentence  will 
consume  much  of  her  time  and  energy.  The  progress  of  the  children,  how- 
ever, after  they  have  gathered  a  little  impetus,  will  compensate  her  many 
times  for  her  first  trials.  Many  teachers  in  Brooklyn  who  formerly  taught 
written  spelling  by  the  use  of  single  words,  with  but  indifferent  success,  now 
accomplish  during  the  first  half-year,  upwards  of  a  hundred  and  fifty  words. 


32  THE    RATIONAL    METHOD    IN    READING-. 


SECOND   HALF-YEAR'S   WORK. 


COMBINED  SIGHT  AND  PHONETIC  READING  FROM  THE  FIRST  READER, 

WITH  AUXILIARY  EXERCISES   TO  STRENGTHEN  AND 

PERFECT  THE   WORK. 


Three  lines  of  work  are  to  be  separately  practiced  every  day :  — 

1.  Reading  from  the  First  Reader. 

2.  Drill  on  the  Phonograms. 

3.  Drill  on  the  Blend. 

1.   The  Book-reading. 

The  directions  given  for  Book-reading  in  the  "Third  Stage"  of  the 
*  First  Half-year's  Work,"  apply  to  the  second  Half-year's  Work  through- 
out. The  following  additions  to  them  are  valuable  and  should  be  carefully 
observed. 

In  the  special  phonetic  preparation  (see  p.  15)  made  for  each  lesson  in  the 
First  Reader,  it  will  be  sufficient  to  drill  upon  those  phonetic  words  that  con- 
tain more  than  three  phonograms  each.  These,  however,  should  be  read  by 
their  phonograms,  again  and  again,  before  the  lesson  itself  is  attacked. 

The  sight  words  introduced  in  the  First  Reader  should,  in  the  case  of 
every  group  presented,  be  taught  in  script  on  the  blackboard,  and  read  by 
the  scholars  in  many  blackboard  sentences,  before  the  book  lesson  in  which 
they  occur  is  taken  up. 

The  oral  reading  of  every  book  lesson  that  is  at  all  difficult,  should  be 
preceded  by  its  silent  reading,  and  this,  to  be  made  in  the  highest  degree 
effective,  should  be  accompanied  by  questioning  and  comment  by  the  teacher. 
The  questioning  should  not  only  deal  directly  with  the  text,  but  should  also 
call  for  inferences,  etc.,  by  the  scholars.  For  example :  —  Teacher.  Was 
Jack  a  selfish  or  an  unselfish  boy  ?  Scholar.  He  was  a  selfish  boy.  Teacher. 
How  do  you  know  ?  Scholar.  Why,  the  book  says  that  he  always  let  his 
sister  go  for  the  milk.  Here  the  teacher  might  appropriately  make  some 
brief  comment  to  increase  the  interest  in  the  lesson  and  correspondingly 
stimulate  attention  and  effort. 


MANUAL    OF    INSTRUCTION    FOR    TEACHERS.  33 

Occasionally  a  lesson  may  strike  the  teacher  as  being  very  difficult  for 
the  little  ones  to  understand.  In  such  a  case  she  should  read  the  lesson 
aloud  to  the  class  in  the  most  expressive  manner  possible,  before  the  silent 
reading  is  done.  This  course,  beside  providing  the  pupils  with  good  models 
of  expression,  will  convey  many  a  meaning  to  their  minds  that  the  mere 
words  of  the  lesson  would  fail  to  convey. 

In  the  directions  for  oral  reading  previously  given,  much  stress  was  laid 
upon  the  necessity  of  never  permitting  a  scholar  to  read  a  sentence  until 
he  is  ready  to  do  so  without  a  break.  Without  scrupulous  attention  to  this 
direction,  you  cannot  hope  to  make  your  pupils  thoughtful  readers.  The 
child  who  reads  his  sentence  aloud,  one  word  at  a  time,  will  reach  the  end, 
in  many  cases,  without  getting  a  vestige  of  the  thought ;  while  the  one  that 
reads  to  himself  first,  and  then  gives  the  sentence  aloud  without  a  break, 
gets  the  thought  at  the  end,  if  he  does  not  before.  To  accomplish  this  result, 
the  best  method  is  to  have  each  scholar  get  his  sentence  ready,  by  reading 
it  first  to  himself,  and  then  require  him  to  let  the  hand  that  holds  the  book 
drop  to  his  side,  and  give  the  sentence  aloud,  without  looking  at  the  book. 
After  the  children  have  been  exercised  in  this  manner  a  few  times,  the  very 
mistakes  they  make  will  attest  the  value  of  the  method ;  for  these  will  con- 
sist largely  of  substitutions  for  the  words  of  the  book  of  other  words  having 
the  same  meaning.  The  conclusion  that  the  matter  read  is  understood,  thus 
becomes  unavoidable. 

The  sentence  lengths  in  the  First  Eeader  have  been  arranged  with  special 
reference  to  the  employment  of  this  method,  the  limit  being  only  twelve 
words,  so  as  to  bring  it  within  the  ability  of  the  average  child  to  carry  any 
sentence  in  the  book. 

2.   The  Drill  on  the  Phonograms. 

As  already  stated  in  a  previous  chapter,  this  must  be  continued  daily 
throughout  the  course,  and  cover  all  the  phonograms  thus  far  taught.  The 
necessity  for  keeping  it  up  lies  in  the  fact  that  while  it  is  the  foundation 
of  the  greater  part  of  the  reading,  a  foundation  that  all  the  scholars  must 
have,  there  will  be  some  in  every  class  who,  either  from  having  been  irregular 
in  attendance  or  from  having  previously  attended  a  school  in  which  the 
Rational  Method  was  not  pursued,  have  not  acquired  a  full  knowledge  of 
the  phonograms. 


34  THE    RATIONAL    METHOD    IN    READING. 

When  the  whole  number  of  phonograms  thus  far  taught  becomes  too 
great  for  use  in  any  single  drill  exercise,  half  the  cards  may  be  employed 
at  one  exercise  and  the  other  half  at  the  next. 

3.   The  Drill  on  the  Blend. 

The  author  has  nothing  to  add  here  to  the  instructions  given  on  page  15, 
which  the  teacher  responsible  for  the  Second  Half-year's  Work  should  read 
with  great  care.  He  would,  however,  say  that  the  daily  continuance  of  this 
exercise  is  vital  to  success,  inasmuch  as  the  sentence-reading  alone  does  not 
afford  half  the  phonetic  practice  required  to  produce  the  necessary  expertness. 

Note.  —Directions  for  the  teaching  of  Spelling  during  the  second  and  third  half-years, 
will  be  found  at  the  end  of  the  book. 


MANUAL    OF    INSTRUCTION    FOR    TEACHERS.  35 


LISTS   OF   PHONETIC   WORDS 

FOR    USE    IN    BLEND    DRILLS    IN    CONNECTION    WITH    THE    READING 
DURING    THE    SECOND    HALF-YEAR. 

Thousands  of  phonetic  words  might  be  supplied  for  use  during  the  second 
half-year ;  but  the  author  has  deemed  it  wise  to  restrict  the  number  in  each 
list  after  No.  21,  to  fifty.  Should  this  number  in  any  case  prove  insufficient, 
it  may  be  largely  increased  by  using  in  connection  with  the  words  given; 
any  of  the  following  suffixes  for  which  the  necessary  phonograms  have  been 
previously  taught :  ble,  ed,  el,  en,  er,  ers,  es,  ful,  gle,  ing,  ings,  ish,  le,  less,  ly, 
ness.  Suffixes,  however,  should  in  no  case  be  employed  when  their  use  will 
increase  the  length  of  the  word  beyond  six  phonograms. 

In  the  lists  following  No.  21,  the  compound  phonograms  ck  and  sh  having 
become  sufficiently  familiar,  are  used  without  underscoring;  and  for  the 
same  reason  where  a  double  consonant,  as  pp  or  ff,  occurs  in  the  middle  of  a 
word,  neither  member  is  crossed  out.  A  little  care  may  be  necessary  in  the 
latter  case  to  prevent  the  scholars  from  getting  the  notion  that  each  of  the 
two  members  is  to  be  sounded  separately. 


36  THE    RATIONAL    METHOD    IN    READING. 


PHONETIC   LIST    NO.   10. 

New  Phonogram:   a. 

act,  acting,  acts,  AlJ^n,  Alan's,  ar^o^,  ai^o^s,  aster, 
asters,  attack,  attend,  attends,  attending,  cackl^,  cap, 
caps,  easjH^,  crack,  fact,  flap,  lack,  lacking,  lacks,  lap, 
lapsing,  laps,  mar^o^,  nap,  napping,  naps,  naifo^, 
pack,  packing,  packs,  rack,  racks,  rap,  rapping,  raps, 
sack,  sacks,  sap,  slap,  smack,  snap,  stack,  tack,  tacking, 
tacks,  taljo^,  tap,  tapping,  taps,  track,  trap,  ^rap, 
^rapjier,  ^rap|ters,  ^rapfSing,  ^raps. 

PHONETIC   LIST  NO.  11. 

fie 

New  Phonograms:    \  .   i    and  ip. 

(Also  a  number  of  additional  sight-words  used  in  the  Reader  before  the  intro- 
duction of  these  phonograms.) 

In  presenting  these  phonograms,  show  that  they  begin  alike,  and  that 
the  first  is  ic  because  it  ends  with  (the  sound)  €  or  ck,  and  the  other  is  ip 
because  it  ends  with  (the  sound)  p.  Before  using  them  in  words,  drill  the 
scholars  well  in  distinguishing  between  them. 

at)l!ic,  attics,  click,  clicking,  clicks,  colic,  comic, 
kick,  kick er,  kick ers,  kicking,  kicks,  lick,  licking,  licks. 


MANUAL    OF    INSTRUCTION    FOR    TEACHERS.  37 

mechanic,  mice,  nice,  nick,  nicking,  nicks.  Nick.  Nick's, 
nickel,  pick,  pick er.  pick ers.  picking,  picks,  pickl^. 
pickles,  pickling,  picnic,  price,  prick,  prick  er.  prick  ers. 
pricking,  prickle,  pricks,  rice,  seller,  sellers,  selling, 
shallot,  shallower,  sick,  sick  er.  sicken,  sickly,  slice, 
snicker,  snick  ers,  spice,  stick,  sticking,  sticks,  tick, 
tick  er,  tick  ers,  tick  ing,  ticks,  tickle,  tickler,  ticklers, 
tickling,  tickles,  trice,  trick,  trick  ing.  trickle,  tricks, 
whenever,  wmdo^,  windows,  clip,  clipper,  clippers, 
clipping,  clips,  crip^,  lip,  lips,  nip,  nipjier,  nippers, 
nipping,  nips,  pip,  pips,  pippin,  pippins,  rip,  ripjiing, 
rips,  rip|tt0,  rip^s,  rippling,  sip,  sipping,  skip,  skipper, 
skippers,  skipping,  skips,  slip,  slipper,  slippers,  slipping, 
slips,  snip,  snipping,  snips,  Tip,  Tip's,  tip,  tipper,  tippers, 
tipping,  tips,  tip-to^,  trip,  tripling,  trips,  triply 

PHONETIC   LIST  NO.   12. 

New  Phonograms:   1K1  and  IS  (not  is). 

Present  by  the  method  suggested  at  the  head  of  List  No.  11. 

Teach  the  children  to  distinguish  between  the  second  phonogram  (pro- 
nounced iss)  and  the  word  is,  by  giving  them  to  read  a  number  of  easy  sen- 
tences in  which  both  occur. 


38  THE    RATIONAL    METHOD    IN    READING. 

crimp,  crimps,  lim]^.  limbs,  limp,  limping,  limps, 
mimic,  mimicking,  mimics,  mistake,  mistakes, 
mistaken,  pimply,  prim er,  primers,  rim,  rims.  Sim. 
Sim's,  simpler,  simply,  skim,  skimpfrer,  skimmers, 
skimming,  skims,  slice,  slim,  slimriier,  spice,  Tim,  Tim's, 
trice,  trim,  trimmer,  trimrAers.  trimming,  trimmings, 
trims. 

Assist,  crisp,  fist,  fists,  frisk,  insist,  kis^,  kisser, 
kissers,  kissing,  lisp,  lisping,  lisps,  list,  lists,  lis$n, 
ligJfySn  er,  lis^n  ers,  lis$n  ing,  lis^ns,  Mis^,  mis^,  missing, 
mist,  Mister,  pistil,  risk,  risking,  risks,  sister,  sisters, 
sister's,  sisters',  yrist,  prists. 

PHONETIC   LIST   NO.  13. 

New  Phonogram  :   W. 

(Also  one  additional  sight-word  used  in  the  Reader  before  the  introduction  of 

this  phonogram.) 

The  real  sound  of  this  phonogram  cannot  be  given  alone.  It  is  that 
peculiar  slide  or  twist  that  occurs  between  long  oo  and  any  other  vowel 
sound  when  we  attempt  to  pass  from  one  to  the  other  without  stopping. 
Thus :  OOet,  OOa/,  etc.,  etc.  We  therefore  teach  the  children  to  call 
it  00  and,  in  words,  to  smother  or  shorten  the  vowel  part,  to  the  point  of 
suppression. 

jiour,  Jiours,  flour,  flouring,  flours,  sour,  souring,  sours, 
scour,   scour  ing,   scours,   swam,   swift,    swim,   swimriier. 


MANUAL    OF    INSTRUCTION    FOR    TEACHERS.  39 

swmn/iers,  swimming,  swims,  swln^,  swor^,  twice,  twin, 
twins,  twin^,  wafer,  wafers,  wail,  wailing,  wails,  wa/t, 
wa/ter,  wa/ters,  waiting,  wa^ts,  wa^st,  wak^,  wak^n, 
wak^s,  waking,  wall,  walls,  wast^,  wick,  wicks,  wicker, 
wif^,  wife's,  wilt,  wilting,  wilts,  win,  winder,  winders, 
why/ling,  windings,  wins,  win^,  wln^s,  winter,  winters, 
wlp^,  wiper,  wipers,  wlp^s,  wiping,  wlr^,  wlr^s,  wiring, 
wls^,  wiser,  wisp,  wisps,  wok^,  wor^,  worn. 

PHONETIC   LIST   NO.  14. 

New  Phonograms:   e,  est,  leSS,  and  neSS. 

After  teaching  e,  write  est,  less,  and  ness  on  the  blackboard,  mark  them 
thus :  est,  leSp,  neSp,  and  have  them  read.  Finally  have  them  com- 
mitted as  wholes  without  marks. 

armless,  arrest,  cap  less,  coldest,  coldness,  crest, 
cresting,  crests,  earless,  e^t,  eejlo,  ec|io^s,  echoing, 
Eljen,  El  Jen's,  els^,  endless,  enter,  Esther,  fatness, 
fatfest,  fearless,  felj,  feljo^,  felt,  fester,  festering, 
festers,  finest,  flattest,  forest,  freest,  friendless,  fret, 
fusses,  honest,  illness,  kenyi^l,  kept,  ketjlil^,  kindest, 
kindness,    kisses,    |£nelt,    lameness,    lamest,    lateness. 


40  THE    RATIONAL    METHOD    IN    READING. 

latest,  lateness,  leafless,  leanest,  leanness,  le^nt,  left, 
lem^n,  lent,  Lent,  less,  lesser,  lessen,  lest,  Lester,  let, 
letjfer,  letting,  lets,  lightest,  lightness,  lifeless,  likeness, 
lock  less,  lowest,  lo^ness,  meanest,  meanness,  me^nt, 
mejlo^,  mel^n,  melt,  men,  men's,  mes^,  met,  met^l, 
misses,  motherless,  musses,  nearest,  nearness,  neatest, 
neatness,  neck,  necks,  NelJ,  NeljPs,  nest,  nesting,  nesjt!l^, 
nests,  net,  netting,  nets,  newest,  newness,  oldest, 
pa/nless,  palest,  paleness,  pan^less,  peaches,  peck, 
pecking,  pecks,  pelt,  pen,  pens,  peeper,  peftpers,  pest, 
pester,  pestering,  pests,  pet,  pets,  petting,  pres^,  Preston, 
ra/nless,  reaches,  rest,  resting,  rests,  rimless,  ripest, 
ripeness,  safest,  sapless,  sj^ent,  seamless,  seat  less,  self, 
selj,  seller,  sellers,  selling,  seljs,  sens^,  sent,  set,  setter, 
setters,  setting.  setjKl^,  sets,  sickest,  sickness,  slightest, 
slight  ness,  slimiest,  slim  ness,  slowest,  slowness, 
slyest,  slyness,  small  est,  small  ness.  smelj,  sorest, 
soreness,  sourest,  sourness,  speljf,  stem,  step,  stifjfest, 
stifjfness,  stillest,  stillness,  swe^t,  tallest,  tamest, 
tam^ness,  teaches,  tearless,  teller,  tellers,  ten,  tens, 
tent,  test,  testing,  tests,  tightest,  tightness,  tireless, 
treeless,  trimmest,  trim  ness.  weakest,  weakness,  went, 
wept.  West.  Weston.  wetjfest,  wick  less,  wingless,  wisest, 


MANUAL    OF    INSTRUCTION    FOR    TEACHERa  41 

witness,  ^ren,  ^rens,  ^ren's,  ^reck,  ^recking,  greeks, 
PHONETIC  LIST  NO.  15. 

New  Phonogram:   d  (as  a  terminal  only). 

Teach  effect,  not  separate  sonnd.  Put  fill  and  filled  on  the  black- 
board, and  call  attention  to  the  difference  in  appearance  and  the  correspond- 
ing difference  in  sound.  Then  write  Call  and  called,  and  let  the  scholars 
try  to  name  the  latter.     Eepeat  the  process  with  other  known  words. 

ail^d,  ajfm^d,  arm^d,  butjfer^d,  but^n^d,  called,  can^d 
clad,  eom^fSd,  cor^d,  corned,  cornered,  crl^d,  cro^d 
e^s^d,  ecjio^d,  ^y^d,  failed,  fan^d,  farmed,  fe^d 
fel^d,  festered,  ftljfd,  filled,  floured,  flo^d,  fo^m^d 
fre^d,  fri^d,  frilled,  handled,  he^d,  ]£ne^d,  kiU^d,  la?d 
lam^d,  le^n^d,  ll^d,  lighted,  Hsj^n^d,  lo^n^d,  lo^d 
mad^,  mailed,  mlr^d,  mo^n^d,  mo^d,  nailed,  nam^d 
one-arm^d,  op^n^d,  o^d,  o^n^d,  pa/d,  pa^n^d,  pe^d 
pen^d,  pestered,  pll^d,  pln^d,  pm^d,  played,  po]ir^d 
pra/^d,  ra/n^d,  ra/s^d,  re^d,  re^d,  ro^m^d,  ro^d 
rod0,  rol^d,  ro^d,  rusjUl^d,  sailed,  saw^d,  scoured 
se^d,  se^m^d,  seemed,  sl$$d,  si^n^d,  simi^ei^d 
sm^d,  skimi^d,  skm^d,  sno^d,  so^r^d,  sol^d,  sold 


42  THE    RATIONAL    METHOD    IN    READING. 

soured,  so^d,  spilled,  sta/d,  swelled,  tam^d,  tanri^d, 
te^d,  tickled,  tl^d,  tlr^d,  titjter^d,  to^d,  told,  tolj^d, 
trl^d,  trilled,  trimi^d,  trod,  wailed,  walled,  we^k^n^d, 
we^n^d,  winged,  wlr^d. 

fad^,  find,  insld^,  kindest,  lad,  ladder,  ladders, 
le^d,  le^d,  leader,  leaders,  leading,  le^ds,  lo^d, 
loading,  lo^ds,  mad,  maddest,  ma/d,  ma/ds,  maiden, 
mild,  mind,  ne^d,  pad,  padding,  pads,  pad^,  pla/d, 
prld^,  re^d,  reader,  readers,  reading,  re^ds,  rld^,  rider, 
riders,  rld^s,  riding,  rind,  ro^ld,  sad,  saddest,  sad^n, 
sadder,  sid^,  spad^,  spe^d,  ste^d,  s^ord,  tld^,  to^d, 
tre^d,  wad^,  wader,  waders,  wad^s,  wading,  we^d, 
welder,  welders,  weeding,  we^ds,  wedding,  who'd, 
wld^,  wld^n,  wider,  widest,  wild,  wind. 

PHONETIC   LIST   NO.    16. 

New  Phonogram  :   d.       (Pronounced  exactly  like  t.) 

(Also  a  number  of  additional  sight-words  used  in  the  Reader  before  the  intro- 
duction of  this  phonogram.) 

ae^d,  eak^d,  €6ck^d,  flf^d,  fus^d,  hadn't,  he^p^d, 
iced,   kicked,   kis^d,   }£nock^d,   lacked,  lapj^d,   le^k^d, 


v 
MANUAL    OF    INSTRUCTION    FOR    TF^C^ERSf.-^&lTy ' 

le^d,  licked,  lik^d,  limped,  locked,  I5pj5^3|" 
mimicked,  mis^d,  mocked,  mop^d,  mop^d,  mus^d, 
nip^d,  overlooked,  overworked,  pack^,  peck^,  picked, 
pok^d,  pop^d,  preached,  priced,  rak^d,  r&pj^d,  reached, 
re^p^d,  rinsed,  rip^d,  rocked,  sip^d,  sliced,  snif^d, 
so^k^d,  spiced,  sup^d,  tack^,  tap^d,  ticked,  tip^d, 
tos^d,  'twould,  wak^d,  wip^d,  worked,  wouldn't.  ^rap|Sed, 
^recked. 

PHONETIC   LIST   NO.   17. 

New  Phonogram  :   ed.       (Pronounced  ed.) 

(Also  a  number  of  additional  sight-words  used  in  the  Reader  before  the  intro- 
duction of  this  phonogram.) 

arrested,  attend  ed.  butjfed,  crested,  Ed,  ended,  faded, 
fed,  fitjfed,  fled,  fold  ed,  Fred,  handed,  heated,  home- 
made, home-sick,  |£notj(!ed,  landed,  led,  lifted,  lighted, 
loaded,  mated,  matjfed,  med^l,  meddle,  mended,  mold  ed. 
Ned,  needed,  netted,  padded,  patted,  ped^l,  ped^il^, 
petjfed,  pitted,  potted,  pouted,  red,  red(ien>  redder, 
reddest,  rested,  rotted,  rusted,  sand  ed,  scold  ed,  seated, 
sided,  sifted,  sled,  sped,  tend  ed,  tilted,  tested,  tinted, 
waded,  waited,  weeded,  wedding,  weren't,  wicked, 
wickedest,  wilted, 


44  THE    RATIONAL    METHOD    IN    READING. 

PHONETIC  LIST  NO.    18. 

New  Phonogram:   g. 

ge^s0,  ge^d,  ge^less,  ge^sing,  Qegil,  ge/1,  gejft^d, 
ge/ling,  ge^lings,  gejfls,  gelj,  geljs,  gent,  glder,  Cyrus, 
fag^,  fag^d,  faging,  feng^,  forg^,  Iges,  Iging,  Igicl^, 
lag^,  lag^d,  laging,  mag^,  ming^,  ming^d,  mmging, 
nlger,  nig  est,  nlg^ness,  n^eg^,  pag^,  pag^d,  pager, 
pagers,  paging,  pe^,  peng^,  p/eg^,  p^eg^d,  paging, 
pingers,  prmg^,  rag^,  rag^d,  rager,  ragers,  raging,  smg^, 
spag^,  trag^,  wmg0,  winged,  winging. 
• 

PHONETIC   LIST  NO.   19. 

New  Phonograms  :    ii  and   un. 

duck,  criim^,  cud,  cuds,  eiid$l^,  euf^,  eiif^d,  eufjfing, 
eiif^s,  cut,  eiitjter,  ciitjters,  cutting,  cuttings,  eut](!l^,  fun, 
funiM.  ftir^o^,  Knuckty  luck,  lump,  mud,  mtifjp,  muf^l^, 
muf^s,  miifjfin,  mutter,  mut^n,  num]zJ,  numbing, 
numbness,  num^s,  nut,  nuts,  nutting,  pluck,  plum, 
pucker,  puckers,  pud^ll^,  puf^,  puf^d,  pufjfing,  pufjfs, 


MANUAL    OF    INSTRUCTION    FOR    TEACHERS.  45 

puls^,  pump,  rudder,  ruffi^  run,  runyter.  runners, 
running,  runs,  rum,  scud,  scuds,  scudding,  sciim,  skulj, 
smut,  sniif;f,  spun,  stuck,  stud,  sttifjF,  stun,  stunyl^d. 
stunriing,  stuns,  stunt,  stick,  sucked,  sucking,  sticks, 
stid^n,  suds,  suffer,  suffers,  sum,  sums,  summer, 
summers,  sun,  sun^d,  sunning,  sunless,  suns,  swtim, 
tuck,  tiick^d,  tucker,  Tucker,  tucking,  tucks,  tunri^l, 
tun^ls,  unbe^n,  unbut^n,  un but^n^d,  unending, 
unfed,  unfit,  unkind,  un  kinder,  unkind  est, 
un kindness,  unlag^,  unless,  unload,  un  lock,  unmad^, 
un  pack,  unpaid,  unpin,  unpm^d,  un  pinning,  unpins, 
unrol^,  unsaf^,  un  seen,  unthinking,  unti^,  untied, 
unties,  until,  untying,  unwell. 

PHONETIC  LIST   NO.   20. 
New  Phonograms:     sh   and   ish. 

ash,  ashes,  cash,  clash,  crash,  crush,  ^y^lash,  finish, 
finished,  finishing,  fish,  fished,  fishes,  fishing,  Fish er, 
Fisher's,  flash,  flesh,  flush,  fresh,  Irish,  lash,  lashed, 
lashing,  mash,  mashed,  masher,  mashers,  mashing, 
mush,   pettish,   plash,    pliish,   Pol ish,    polish,    punish, 


46  THE    RATIONAL    METHOD    IN    READING. 

punished,  punishing,  radish,  rash,  reddish,  relish,  rush, 
riish^d,  rushing,  shad,  shado^,  shad^,  shaded,  shades, 
shading,  shad^less,  shak^,  shaken,  shaker,  shakers, 
shakes,  shaking,  shalj,  shallot,  sham,  shamed, 
shami/iing,  shams,  shap^,  shaped,  shapes,  shaping, 
shatter,  shed,  shedding,  sheds,  sheepish,  shelf,  shelj, 
shelj^d,  shelving,  sheljs,  shl^d,  shield,  shl^s,  shift, 
shifted,  shifting,  shifts,  shin,  shins,  shln^,  shiner, 
shiners,  shines,  shining,  ship,  shipping,  ships,  sho^l, 
shoals,  shock,  shocked,  shocking,  shocks,  shod,  shon^, 
shop,  shopj^d,  shopper,  shoppers,  shopping,  shops, 
shor^,  shores,  shorn,  shot,  shots,  sho^,  sho\^d,  shoeing, 
sho^n,  sho^s,  shuck,  shucks,  shudder,  shudders,  shuffl^, 
shun,  shun^i^d,  shunning,  shuns,  shut,  shutting,  shuts, 
shutjter,  shutters,  shutjft^,  shy,  shyer,  shyest,  shying, 
skittish,  slush,  Spanish,  trash,  wish,  wished,  wisher, 
wishers,  wishes,  wishing. 

PHONETIC   LIST  NO.  21. 

New  Phonogram:    V. 

Sound  by  placing  the  lower  lip  against  the  upper  teeth  and  forcing  the 
voice  strongly  but  not  suddenly  between. 


MANUAL    OF    INSTRUCTION    FOR    TEACHERS.  47 


— . 

advig^,  anvil,  canvas,  <>av^,  <>avjM,  <>av^s,  saving, 
clovjJ,  crav^,  e^s,  Ev^,  ev^n,  evening,  evenings,  evil, 
fever,  fevers,  flfft  flvj%  insid^,  insist,  invito  Pv^,  Ivjjg, 
^niv^s,  16^,  le^s,  leaving,  leavings,  lgvjfl,  liv^, 
liv^g,  lo^s,  ov^l,  ov^ls,  pav^,  pav^d,  pav^s,  paving, 
peevish,  rav^l,  rov^,  rov^d,  rov^s,  roving,  Rover, 
Rover's,  sav^,  sav^d,  saver,  savers,  sav^s,  saving, 
savings,  sev^n,  shav^,  shaved,  shaver,  shavers,  shaves, 
shaving,  shavings,  sle^,  stov^,  uneven,  vail,  vails, 
va^n,  van,  vans,  vanish,  vas^,  ve^l,  vend,  vending, 
vender,  vends,  ves^l,  vest,  vm^,  vin^s,  vot^,  voted, 
voter,  voters,  vot^s,  voting,  wav^,  wav^d,  wav^s, 
waving,  wejlv^,  weaver,  weavers,  wejiv^g,  weaving, 
we'v^,  wiv^s,  wov^,  wov^n. 

PHONETIC   LIST   NO.   22. 

New  Phonograms  :  l,  y,  ly. 

To  teach  the  sound  represented  by  1,  write  the  word  it  on  the  blackboard 

thus:  i 1,  and  make  sure  that  the  scholars   knows  what  it  is. 

Then  require  them  to  pronounce  it  as  written,  helping  them  by  placing  the 
pointer  on  the  i  for  them  to  begin,  and  sliding  it  slowly  to  the  t,  which  they 
are  not  to  pronounce  until  the  pointer  reaches  it.  If  necessary,  show  them 
by  doing  the  thing  required,  yourself.  The  long  break  between  the  two 
sounds  will  cause  the  1  to  come  out  distinctly. 


48  THE    RATIONAL    METHOD    IN    READING. 

Now  require  the  scholars  to  try  the  sound  without  seeing  the  word  it, 
but  instruct  them  that  whenever  they  see  the  character  1,  they  must  remem- 
ber that  it  always  stands  for  the  first  sound  in  that  word. 

The  sound  once  mastered,  there  will  be  no  trouble  in  teaching  y  as  an 
additional  representative  of  it. 

Teach  ly  by  first  presenting  it  marked  thus:  ly.  Then  put  late  and 
lately  (without  marks)  on  the  blackboard,  and  call  attention  to  the  difference 
in  appearance  and  the  corresponding  difference  in  sound.  Write  another 
well-known  word.  Have  it  read.  Add  ly.  Ask  what  it  is  now.  Repeat 
the  process  with  other  words.  Insist  always  upon  the  ly  being  pronounced 
very  crisply  and  not  drawled  out  into  a  prolonged  le. 

See  remark  on  the  use  of  suffixes  on  page  35. 

aetiv^,  all^y,  -carry,  Qelery,  gity,  copy,  downy,  easily, 
e^sy,  every,  family,  friendly,  frosty,  funny.  Ivy,  kid, 
kidnap,  kindly,  late  ly.  lightly,  likely,  lily,  man  ly. 
merry,  middl^,  muddy,  nearly,  neatly,  nicely,  only, 
pansy,  penny,  pony,  puppy,  piitty,  rainy,  river,  sandy, 
shiny,  &i$v$,  silly,  skinny,  sleepy,  slimy,  slowly,  smoky, 
softly,  sorry,  story,  timid. 

PHONETIC  LIST  NO.   23. 

New  Phonogram:  ch. 
See  remark  on  the  use  of  suffixes  on  page  35. 

approach,  be^ch,  be^ch,  cajteh,  cajfchup,  chajfn,  chap, 
chapter.    chasj£,   che^p,   cheat,  checkers,   che^k,  che^s^, 


MANUAL    OF    INSTRUCTION    FOR    TEACHERS.  49 


cherry,  chesjtniit,  chick,  chjef,  child,  chilly,  chimney . 
chin,  Chines^,  chip,  chirrup,  chop,  chor^,  chuckl^,  <>o^ch; 
crunch,  IjCch,  kijfch^n,  lajfch,  majtich,  mischief,  nojCch, 
ostrich,  pajteh,  pijtch,  porch,  punch,  rich,  Richi^,  sandwich. 
S^ojteh,  scratch,  stijfeh,  switch,  torch,  t^uch. 


*»ic 


PHONETIC  LIST  NO.  24. 

d  anywhere;  also,  dr. 

Pronounce  d,  lid,  placing  the  tip  of  the  tongue  against  the  roof  of  the 
mouth  before  uttering  the  u,  so  as  to  compel  the  sound  to  come  from  the 
throat. 

See  remark  on  the  use  of  suffixes  on  page  35. 

Before  the  new  compound  phonogram  dr,  presented  in  this  list,  is  memo- 
rized or  used  in  words,  its  pronunciation  should  be  determined  by  the  scholars 
themselves. 

can  dy,  Qlder,  gmder,  cradl^,  cylinder,  da/sy,  de^d,  de^r, 
degid^,  deck,  de^p,  de^r,  delight,  dentist,  deny,  depojt!, 
desk,  dice.  Dick,  dl^,  dim^,  dimple,  dip,  dish,  dismiss, 
div^,  divid^,  domino,  do^r,  dos^,  do]i^Ji,  dre^m,  dress, 
drop,  drov^,  drum,  dry,  duck,  dust,  Idl^,  kindly,  lady, 
lid,  ne^dl^,  ptiddl^,  rudder,  shoulder,  solid,  spider, 
straddl^,  study. 


50  THE    RATIONAL    METHOD    IN    READING. 

PHONETIC   LIST   NO.   25. 

New  Phonograms:   b,  bl,  and  bl\ 

Pronounce  b,  "lib,  making  the  u  with  the  lips  closed. 

See  remark  on  the  use  of  suffixes  on  page  35. 

Before  the  new  compound  phonograms,  bl  and  br,  presented  in  this  list, 
are  memorized  or  used  in  words,  their  pronunciation  should  be  determined 
by  the  scholars  themselves. 

abl^,  baby,  back,  bad,  ball,  banner,  bat,  bed,  bell, 
belt,  Ben,  bench,  bend,  berry,  best,  bibl^,  bigycl^, 
bis€]iit,  bit^,  bitter,  black,  blad^,  ble^d,  blind,  blister, 
block,  blo^,  bo^t,  bon^,  bottl^,  bo^l,  brav^,  br^ak, 
brick,  bright,  bring,  brok^,  brush,  biibbl^,  buckl^,  bud, 
bunch,  club,  cobweb,  d^iibl^,  elbo^,  nibbl^,  nimble, 
nobl^,  number,  pebbly,  ra^nbo^,  ribbon,  rob,  sob, 
stabl^,  tabl^,  tr^lubl^,  tumbl^. 

PHONETIC   LIST   NO.   26. 

New  Phonograms  :    a  e  1  0  U,  —  Obscure  Vowels. 

These  are  vowels  which  cannot  be  crossed  out  because  their  omission 
would  involve  the  loss  of  a  syllable.  Thus,  re^l  would  read  rel,  ll^n 
would  read  lin,  etc. ;  and  yet  they  are  so  indistinctly  pronounced  that  no 
one  can  tell  in  any  given  case  exactly  what  the  sound  is.  On  account  of 
their  indistinctness  they  are  represented  by  the  faint  or  skeleton  letters 
shown  above. 


MANUAL    OF    INSTRUCTION    FOR    TEACHERS.  51 

As  good  a  way  as  any  to  teach  the  recognition  of  these  letters  is  to 
first  tell  the  scholars  that  they  sound  more  nearly  like  U  than  anything  else, 
but  are  far  less  distinct;  and  then  allow  them  to  determine  the  word  pre- 
sented in  each  case  by  giving  u  where  the  skeleton  letter  occurs,  but 
require  them  when  the  word  is  pronounced  as  a  whole  to  soften  the  U  to 
the  verge  of  extinction.  Showing  should,  of  course,  accompany  the  telling. 
With  good  teaching,  one  or  two  exercises  should  make  the  matter  per- 
fectly clear. 

See  remark  on  the  use  of  suffixes  on  page  35. 

aboard,  across,  ado,  afloat,  afraid,  alarm,  alight 
alike,  allv^,  animal,  ap/eg^,  Arab,  arls^,  ashamed, 
ashor^,  asld^,  asleep,  awa/t,  awak^,  balang^,  barrel, 
cannon,  caraway,  carol,  carrot,  china,  -CjArisjfaias, 
gmnamon,  coward,  currant,  errand,  Inland,  Ivory,  lilac, 
lion,  melon,  memory,  necklag^,  nowadays,  palac^, 
parrot,  period,  pilot,  real,  salad,  several  stirrup,  tenant, 
water-melon. 


>*•£ 


PHONETIC   LIST  NO.   27. 

New  Phonograms  :  th  and  til. 

Pronounce  the  first  of  these  with  the  breath  only,  but  give  the  second 
a  strong  vocal  buzz.  Tell  the  scholars  that  the  cross  line  represents  the  buzz. 
Practice  each  thoroughly  before  using  in  words. 

See  remark  on  the  use  of  suffixes  on  page  35. 


52  THE    RATIONAL    METHOD    IN    READING. 

bath^,  be  ne^th,  black  smith,  both,  both  er,  breath, 
bre^th^,  cloth,  clothes,  de^th,  either,  feather,  fourth, 
froth,  he^th^n,  lather,  leather,  moth,  ne/ther,  ninth, 
panther,  seventh,  te^th,  te^th^,  tenth,  thatch,  theater, 
thes^,  thick,  th/ef,  thij^i,  thimbl^,  thin,  thisjtl^,  thorn, 
thos^,  thoji^ji,  thrash,  thread,  thre^t^n,  thre^,  throat, 
throng,  thro^,  thrush,  thum]^,  thump,  thunder,  thus 
underneath,  weather,  ^re^th,  ^re^ith^. 

PHONETIC   LIST   NO.   28. 

New  Phonogram:  n. 

Sounded  by  forcing  the  voice  through  the  nose,  with  the  mouth  open  and 
the  fore  part  of  the  tongue  kept  down. 

If  you  have  difficulty  in  teaching  your  pupils  this  sound  separately, 
write  an  on  the  blackboard  and  have  it  pronounced.  Then  change  the 
form  to  an  and  tell  the  pupils  that  it  is  pronounced  ang.  Do  the  same 
with  en,  in,  on,  and  tin.  Finally,  mix  all  the  forms  an,  an,  en, 
en,  in,  in,  on,  on,  tin,  and  tin  irregularly,  and  drill  the  scholars 
in  distinguishing  them. 

See  remark  on  the  use  of  suffixes  on  page  35. 

alon^,  ankl^,  ban^,  bank,  belong,  Wink,  btink,  chink, 
chunk,  citing,  crank,  donkey,  drank,  drunk,  Frank,  gon^, 
ink,  length,  link,  lunj£,  oblong,  pink,  plank,  prank,  piink, 


MANUAL    OF    INSTRUCTION    FOR    TEACHERS.  53 

ran^,  san^,  sank,  sink,  slink,  son^,  spank,  sprang, 
spunk,  strength,  strong,  strung,  stiin^,  tank,  thank, 
tinker,  tinkl^,  ton^s,  trunk,  twinkl^,  unel^,  wink, 
^rinkl^,  ^ron^. 


PHONETIC   LIST   NO.   29. 

New  Phonograms:   g,  gl,  and  gr. 

Pronounce  g    Ug,  making  the  u  in  the  throat  with  the  mouth  open. 
See  remark  on  the  use  of  suffixes  on  page  35. 

agat^,  agre^,  angl^,  angry,  bangl^,  begin,  big,  buggy, 
dig,  e^gl^,  fig,  finger,  flag,  flog,  frog,  gamji,  garret, 
gather,  gas,  gefafa  gift,  giggly  gimlet,  glad,  gold,  got, 
gra/n,  grandmother,  grap^,  gravy,  graf,  greedy,  gre^n, 
gro^,  grumbl^,  g]iess,  gum,  gun,  gutter,  log,  mingl^, 
mug,  peg,  pig,  popgun,  ragged,  shaggy,  shingly  singly 
stagger,  tag,  tangly,  tiger,  tingl^,  together,  tug,  twig, 
ugly,  wagjto,  ^riggl^. 


54  THE    RATIONAL    METHOD    IN    READING. 


PHONETIC   LIST   NO.   30. 

New  Phonograms:  g  and  j. 

Pronounce  uj,  placing  the  tip  of  the  tongue  against  the  roof  of  the 
mouth  before  uttering  the  u  so  as  to  compel  the  sound  to  come  from  the 
throat. 

See  remark  on  the  use  of  suffixes  on  page  35. 

ag^,  angel,  arrang^,  ba^g^,  bri^g^,  eabbag^,  eag$, 
eam^g^,  chang^,  eottag^,  €0iirag^,  danger,  do(ig^,  e(Jg^, 
engm^,  fring^,  gem,  geni^,  gently,  giant,  ginger-bread, 
giraff^,  jail,  Jan^,  je^us,  jelly,  jest,  jingl^,  job,  Jojin, 
jok^,  jos]T^,  ju^,  jtig,  juggler,  jump,  just,  magic, 
oblig^,  orang^,  packag^,  pag^,  pig^n,  porrifig^,  postag^, 
savag^,  sle^ig^,  stag^,  stingy,  Strang^,  we(lg^. 

PHONETIC  LIST  NO.   31. 

New  Phonograms:  a  and  O. 
See  remark  on  the  use  of  suffixes  on  page  35. 

almost,  already,  al  ways,  a]iger,  a]itumyt,  a^n  ing,  ba^l, 
beea^s^,  border,  born,  boji^it,  bro^d,  broji^t,  ea^Jit, 


MANUAL    OF    INSTRUCTION    FOR    TEACHERS.  55 

cbajk,  cla^,  cord,  cork,  crawfish,  cra^l,  darter,  da^dl^, 
dra^,  dwarf,  fals^,  fa]Aget,  fa^llt,  form,  f6]i^lt,  G^org^, 
^na^,  ja^,  naji^t,  6]A^t,  pa^,  ra^,  reward,  salt,  sagger, 
sa^lsag^,  scald,  sha^l,  sh6rt,  s6rt,  st6rm,  stra^-berry, 
tajk,  ta]i^jit,  tha^,  thojA^jlt,  wajk,  war,  warm. 

PHONETIC   LIST   NO.   32. 

New  Phonograms:    h  and  wll. 

Pronounce  wh,  IlOO,  making  the  ll  very  strong.  In  words  shorten 
the  00  to  the  point  of  suppression. 

See  remark  on  the  use  of  suffixes  on  page  35. 

awhil^,  behav^,  behind,  buckwheat,  hall,  han^,  happy, 
hajtehet,  hate,  ha^k,  ha^-loft,  he^d,  He^Lv^n,  he^vy,  hen, 
hickory,  hid^,  hi^l,  hill,  hmg^,  hlr^,  hit,  hold,  hop,  horn, 
hot,  hug,  hum,  hunter,  hurry,  hush,  husjCl^,  hut,  hyena, 
ke/hol^,  whal^,  wharf,  wheat,  whe^l,  whe^l-barro^, 
which,  whll^,  whimper,  whin^,  whip,  whisk,  whisper, 
whistty  whlt^,  whittl^,  ^hol^. 


56  THE    RATIONAL    METHOD    IN    READING. 

PHONETIC   LIST   NO.   33. 

New  Phonograms  :   OU  and  OW. 
See  remark  on  the  use  of  suffixes  on  page  35. 

allow,  around,  blous^,  bouj£K,  bounc^,  brown,  chowder, 
cloud,  clown,  ^oudi,  -eount,  crowd,  crown,  crouch,  drown, 
drowsy,  floung^,  flounder,  flower,  fount^fri,  fowl,  ground, 
growl,  haimow,  hot-hous^,  hound,  hous<i  loud,  mous^, 
mouth,  night-gown,  oung^,  plough  poung^,  pound, 
powder,  proud,  prowl,  round,  shower,  slouch,  sound, 
south,  sunflower,  thousand,  towel,  tower,  trousers. 

PHONETIC   LIST  NO.   34. 

New  Phonograms:   q,  U,  and  ew. 
See  remark  on  the  use  of  suffixes  on  page  35. 

balloon,  bo^t,  brew,  bro^m,  Briiin,  bru/s^,  brunette 
brut^,  ^ano^,  chew,  cho^s^,  eo0,  cojztl,  crew,  cruel,  drew, 
fo^ld,  foolish,  goj^,  grew,  gruel,  improv^,  Jew,  jewel, 
movf!,  moonlight,  po^dl^,  pojfl,  po^lr,  prov^,  prunes,  ro^f, 
ro^m,  ro^t,  ruby,  rud^,  rul^,  Ruth,  scjio^l,  screw,  sho^, 


MANUAL    OF    INSTRUCTION    FOR    TEACHERS.  57 

sho^t,    slo^p,    so^n,    so]ip,    spo^l,    spo^n,   sto^ip,   strew, 
threw,  truant,  tra^,  truth,  t^o. 


PHONETIC   LIST  NO.   35. 

New  Phonograms:   o,  U,  and  ful. 
See  remark  on  the  use  of  suffixes  on  page  35. 

a^ful,  bashful,  bo^k,  bro^k,  bullet,  biijtlcher,  eo^ky, 
eo#l,  crocked,  €ucko#l,  €ush^n,  fals^horfd,  fearful, 
flr^wo^d,  fishhook,  fo^lt,  hateful  helpful,  ho^d,  ho^ik, 
ho^p,  mouthful,  not^bo^k,  pailful,  pitiful,  plateful, 
playful,  pudding,  pull,  pullet,  pulley,  pulpit,  push, 
puss,  rightful,  scrap  bo^k,  sho^k,  sho^d,  skillful, 
spiteful,  sto^d,  thankful,  th6]A#tful,  to^ik,  truthful, 
willful,  wolf,  woman,  woolen,  worsted. 


58  THE    RATIONAL    METHOD    IN    READING. 


THIRD   HALF-YEAR'S   WORK. 


COMBINED  SIGHT  AND  PHONETIC  READING  FROM  THE  SECOND  READER 

WITH  AUXILIARY  EXERCISES   TO  STRENGTHEN 

AND  PERFECT  THE   WORK. 


Three  lines  of  work  are  to  be  separately  practiced  every  day :  — 

1.  Reading  from  the  Second  Reader. 

2.  Drill  on  the  Phonograms. 

3.  Drill  on  the  Blend. 

1.  The  Book-reading. 

This  will  be  done  in  accordance  with  the  directions  given  for  Book-reading 
under  the  headings,  "First  Half-year's  Work  —  Third  Stage"  (pp.  14  and 
15),  and  "  Second  Half-year's  Work  "  (p.  32). 

It  will  be  observed  that,  during  the  latter  part  of  this  half-year,  the  read- 
ing, except  for  words  already  learned,  becomes  almost  wholly  phonetic,  the 
only  new  sight-words  introduced  being  either  words  that  cannot  be  phoneti- 
cally marked,  or  words  that  contain  six  or  more  phonograms,  and,  as  phonetic 
words,  are,  therefore,  too  difficult  for  the  average  child  at  this  stage  of  his 
progress. 

2.  The  Drill  on  the  Phonograms. 

This  should  be  kept  up  not  only  during  this  half-year  but  through  the 
fourth,  fifth,  and  sixth  half-years ;  and  it  should  be  the  effort  of  the  teacher, 
in  every  case,  to  have  all  her  scholars,  whatever  their  previous  preparation 
(or  lack  of  preparation)  "  well  up  in  "  the  individual  phonograms,  before  the 
end  of  the  first  month  of  the  term,  that  they  may  thereafter  work  together 
without  difficulty. 

3.  The  Drill  on  the  Blend. 

This,  also,  should  be  kept  up  not  only  during  this  half-year,  but  through 
the  fourth,  fifth,  and  sixth  half-years.  In  general,  the  special  phonetic  prepa-> 
ration  already  prescribed  for  each  lesson,  will  cover  the  requirement  under 


MANUAL    OF    INSTRUCTION    FOR    TEACHERS.  59 

this  head;  but  whenever  the  number  of  phonetic  words  used  in  the  said 
preparation  falls  below  thirty,  the  difference  should  be  made  up  by  the  use 
of  additional  phonetic  words. 

«      »o>*;o* 

PHONETIC   LIST   NO.  36. 

New  Phonogram:   a. 
See  remark  on  the  use  of  suffixes  on  page  35. 

&}1,  ark,  ajlnt,  barber,  bargain,  bark,  barn,  eajf,  car, 
card,  cargo,  carpet,  cart,  crowbar,  dark,  darn,  far,  father, 
garter,  hajf,  hard,  hark,  harness,  h^art,  lard,  hurra, 
larg^,  laundry,  mamma,  marbl^,  march,  market,  papa, 
park,  parsley,  parsnip,  part,  party,  path,  rhubarb,  sear, 
scarf,  sear  let,  shark,  sharp,  smart,  sparkl^,  star,  starch, 
starlight  starv^,  tardy,  target,  tart. 

PHONETIC   LIST  NO.   37. 

New  Phonogram:   a. 

Like  a,  but  less  broad  and  pronounced  more  in  the  mouth. 
See  remark  on  the  use  of  suffixes  on  page  35. 

advang^,  after,  alas,  ask,  banana,  basket,  bass, 
Blanch^,  blast,  branch,  brass,  cask,  caster,  chaff,  chang^, 
clasp,  class,  dang^,  draft,  fasjt^n,  flask,  Frang^,  gasp, 
glang^,  glass,  grasp,  hasp,  lang^,  lass,  last,  mask,  mass, 
mast,  master,  nasty,  overcast,  pant,  pass,  past,  pasting, 
plaster,  raft,  rasp,  slant,  staff,  task,  vast. 


60  THE    RATIONAL    METHOD    IN    READING. 

PHONETIC   LIST   NO.    38. 
New  Phonograms:  ar,  er,  ear,  Ir,  Or,  and  tir.1 

Pronounce  like  ir  in  sir  or  girl.  These  six  characters,  representing 
one  and  the  same  sound,  may  be  taught  almost  as  easily  as  one,  if  the  atten- 
tion of  the  scholars  is  called  to  the  fact  that  every  one  begins  with  a  wave- 
marked  (~)  letter  and  ends  with  an  r. 

See  remark  on  the  use  of  suffixes  on  page  35. 

anchor,  birth-day,  burn,  church,  churn,  Qircl^,  glrcus, 
concert,  curly,  deserv^,  dirt,  doctor,  early,  earn,  earth, 
first,  furnag^,  heard,  hears^.  hurt,  j^urn^y,  kernel, 
lantern,  learn.  mSrtar,  mustard,  orchard,  parlor,  pattern, 
pearl,  perch,  perfect,  poplar,  pur,  purpl^,  purs^,  sail5r, 
serv^,  gellar,  scholar,  search,  sir,  skirt,  stir,  tail5r,  third, 
thirsty,  thirteen,  thirty,  Thursday,  toward,  turkey,  turn, 
turnip,  turtl^,  word,  w<Md,  worm,  worst,  w5rth. 


1  Most  lexicographers  maintain  that  the  sound  of  u  before  r  differs  from  that  of  i  or  e  in 
the  same  position.  So  far  as  the  people  of  this  country  are  concerned,  the  author  respect- 
fully dissents  from  that  opinion.  He  has  listened  for  years  to  the  speech  of  cultivated 
Americans,  with  the  special  object  of  deciding  the  point,  and  has  found  little  or  nothing 
to  support  the  claims  of  the  lexicographers.  Almost  every  one  gives  exactly  the  same 
vowel  sound  in  term,  firm,  and  turn.  In  the  use  of  any  one  of  the  combinations  er,  ir, 
and  ur,  however,  shades  of  difference  occur.  For  instance,  few  persons  give  exactly  the 
same  vowel  sound  in  sir  and  girl.  But  these  shades  of  difference  it  would  be  impossible 
to  represent  by  different  marking. 


MANUAL    OF    INSTRUCTION    FOR    TEACHERS.  61 

PHONETIC   LIST   NO.   39. 

New  Phonogram:  6. 

Pronounced  exactly  like  ii. 

See  remark  on  the  use  of  suffixes  on  page  35. 

amon^,  beloved,  blo^d,  color,  comfort,  compass, 
cover,  covet,  discover,  don^,  dov^,  flesh-color,  flo^d, 
flourish,  front,  glov^,  grandson,  hon^y,  hon^y-eom^, 
lov^,  lovely,  Monday,  mon^y,  monkey,  month,  non0, 
nothing,  ov^n,  pSrpo^,  recover,  shov^,  shovel, 
somerset,  son,  spong$,  stepson,  stomaeji,  thoro^Jl,  ton, 
tonj^,  turtl^dov^,  uncover,  undon^,  won,  wonder, 
wonderful,  worry. 

PHONETIC  LIST  NO.   40. 

New  Phonograms:  01  and  oy. 

Pronounce  ae,  blending  the  two  sounds  closely. 
See  remark  on  the  use  of  suffixes  on  page  35. 

ahoy,  annoy,  appoint,  avoid,  boil,  boisterous,  broil, 
buoy,  choi<^,  coil,  coin,  destroy,  doily,  employ,  enjoy, 
gumboil,  hoist,  join,  joint,  jointed,  joist,  joy,  joyful, 
joyfully,   loin,   ldter,   moist,   nds^,   noisily,  noisy,   oil, 


62  THE    RATIONAL    METHOD    IN    READING. 

oily,  overjoyed,  oyster,  parboil,  point,  pointer,  poison, 
poisonous,  rejoi^,  Roy,  royal,  sirloin,  soil,  spoil,  tm-foil, 
toilet,  toil,  toilsome,  toy,  uncoil,  vdg^,  voyag^. 

PHONETIC   LIST  NO.   41. 

New  Phonograms:  "Q,  e"W,  and  ure. 
See  remark  on  the  use  of  suffixes  on  page  35. 

abus^,  acetis^,  ainus^,  argti^,  avenu^,  b^utiful,  blew, 
blu^>  bugl0,  eub^,  cupola,  cure,  curious,  de"w,  dispute, 
during,  duty,  endure.  e"w^,  failure,  fe"w,  figure,  flut^, 
funeral,  glu^,  hug^,  January.  July,  Jun^,  mew,  mugilag^, 
mtil^,  museum,  music,  pasture.  pe~wter,  pe"w,  picture, 
plum^,  procure,  pupil,  pure,  refus^,  salut^,  statu^,  ste"w, 
stupid,  sti^t,  t6rture,  ttib^,  Tuesday,  tulip,  tun^,  us^, 
US0  f  ul. 


PHONETIC   LIST   NO.   42. 
New  Phonograms:  &r,  air,  §ar,  and  &ir. 

These  four  characters,  representing  one  and  the  same  sound,  may  be 
taught  almost  as  easily  as  one,  if  the  attention  of  the  scholars  is  called  to 
fact  that  every  one  begins  with  a  caret  (a)  marked  letter  and  ends  with  an  r. 

See  remark  on  the  use  of  suffixes  on  page  35. 


MANUAL    OF    INSTRUCTION    FOR  /TEACHERS.  \  %         63 

— — ; V 

Sir,  arm-cMir.  b|i$,  bSr^fo^t,  b<|ar,  be  war^,  bug-bear, 
e^r^,  e^r^f ul,  eSr^f ul  ly,  eSr^less,  ch&ir,  d&i$,  declSx^,  f Ml, 
fMiy,  flk&  fSr^well,  flSr^,  gl<k^,  h&ir,  h&ir-brush. 
hardwSr^,  hir^,  Mi$-bell,  horsehair,  m|r$,  nightm&r^. 
out  wear,  pair,  pir^,  parent,  p§ar,  prepir^,  r&r^,  repair, 
scSr<^,  seirg^ly,  se&i$,  sh|i$,  sn||i$,  spSr^,  sp&r^rib, 
st&ir,  st|k^,  swear,  tail-bearer,  tear,  their,  thre?ldbi|r^, 
unf&ir,  wSar. 

PHONETIC  LIST  NO.  43. 

New  Phonograms:  X,  ex,  and  ex. 

x 

Pronounced,  respectively,  ks,  eks,  and  egZ. 
See  remark  on  the  use  of  suffixes  on  page  35. 

apex,  axl^,  axl^-tre^,  band-box,  be^s-wax,  betwixt, 
box,  calyx,  co^x,  exact,  examin^,  exampl^,  except, 
exchange  exgit^,  exctis^,  exergis^,  exert,  exist,  expect, 
explain,  explod^,  expos^,  express,  fix,  flax,  fox, 
hexagon,  index,  lynx,  mix,  mixture,  next,  onyx,  ox, 
ox^n,  pickax,  sextan,  six,  sixp^n<^,  sixteen,  sixth,  sixty, 
smallpox,  snuff-box,  tax,  unfix,  vex,  vix^n,  wax, 
wax-work. 


64  THE    RATIONAL    METHOD    IN    READING. 


PHONETIC   LIST  NO.   44. 

New  Phonograms:  q  and  qu. 

Pronounced,  respectively,  k  and  koo.  In  using  the  latter  in  words, 
shorten  00  to  the  point  of  suppression. 

See  remark  on  the  use  of  suffixes  on  page  35. 

aifquaftit,  aiquir^.  acquaint  ed,  acquit,  bedquilt, 
banquet,  ^onq]ier,  eoq]iett^,  earthquake  equal,  inquiry 
liquid,  liquor,  obllq^,  opaq]i^,  quack,  quail,  quart, 
quarter,  que^n,  que^r,  quench,  quick,  quickly,  quiet, 
quill,  quilt,  qum<^,  quinin^,  quir^,  quit,  qult^.  Stiver, 
quoit,  request,  requir^,  squa^,  squeak,  squeal,  squint, 
squirm,  squirrel,  squirt,  unequal. 

PHONETIC   LIST  NO.   45. 

New  Phonogram:  Z. 

Pronounce  with  a  strong  vocal  buzz. 

See  remark  on  the  use  of  suffixes  on  page  35. 

baptiz^,  blaz^,  brazen,  bre^z^,  bronz^,  buzz,  capsiz^, 
crazy,  dazzl^,  dizzy,  doz^,  drizzly  Eliza,  fizz,  fizzl^, 
fre^,  frizzly,  froz^,  frozen,  fuzz,  fuzzy,   ga]iz^,   gaz^, 


MANUAL    OF    INSTRUCTION    FOR    TEACHERS.  65 


glaz^S,  graz^,  grizzly,  hazy,  huzza,  lizard,  loz^ng^,  ma/z^, 
muzzl^,  o^,  piazza,  priz^,  piizzl^,  razor,  se^L-bre^, 
se/z0,  siz^,  sne^,  sno^z^,  s^ue^,  tweezers,  whe^, 
zebra,  zero,  zigzag,  zine. 


&Kc 


PHONETIC   LIST  NO.   46. 

New  Phonograms:  y  and  1. 

The  sound  represented  by  these  two  phonograms  cannot  be  given  alone. 
It  is  that  peculiar  slide  or  twist  that  occurs  between  long  e  and  any  other 
vowel  when  we  attempt  to  pass  from  the  former  to  the  latter  without  stop- 
ping. We  therefore  teach  the  children  to  call  it  e,  but  in  words  to  smother 
or  shorten  the  vowel  part  to  the  point  of  suppression. 

See  remark  on  the  use  of  suffixes  on  page  35. 

anxious,  beyond,  bunion.  -Gflristian,  clothier,  edrdial, 
Daniel,  glazier,  hosier,  Indian,  lawyer,  le^pye^r,  minion, 
onion,  opinion,  pavier,  Bussian,  SaviOr,  senior,  Spaniard, 
spaniel,  stallion,  union,  unyielding,  unyok^,  vermilion, 
vineyard,  Yanke^,  yard,  yarn,  ya^n,  ye,  ye^r,  yearly, 
ye^st,  yell,  yello^,  yet,  yew,  y^eld,  yok^,  yolk,  yonder, 
y^uii^,  younger,  youngest,  y^iin^ster. 


66  THE    RATIONAL    METHOD    IN    READING. 

PHONETIC  LIST  NO.   47. 

New  Phonogram:  a. 

Pronounce  exactly  like  o. 

See  remark  on  the  use  of  suffixes  on  page  35. 

chaps,  quality,  quarrel,  scallop,  squab,  squab  bl^T 
squall,  squander,  squash,  squat,  swab,  swallo^,  swamp, 
swampy,  swan,  swap,  wad,  wadded,  wadding,  waddl^, 
waffl^,  wallet,  wallop,  walnut,  walrus,  wampum,  wan, 
wand,  wander,  warren,  wash,  washboard,  washer, 
washerwoman,  wasp,  wajfcch,  wajteher,  wajtehful, 
watchman,  whitewash,  wigwam,  ya#t. 

PHONETIC  LIST  NO.   48. 

New  Phonogram:  e. 

Pronounce  exactly  like  a. 

See  remark  on  the  use  of  suffixes  on  page  35. 

bo^iq^e^,  evnvef,  croq]ie)t!,  disobe/,  fre^jit,  gref, 
greyhound,  he/,  ne^]i,  ne^bor,  ne^P>5rho0d, 
ne/^bgrly,  obef,  outwej^i,  pre^,  re^n,  re/n,  re/nde^r, 
skgfri,  sle^Ji,  veil,  ve/n,  we^Jl,  we^Jit,  we^ty,  whe/. 


MANUAL    OF    INSTRUCTION    FOR    TEACHERS.  67 


PHONETIC  LIST  NO.   49. 

New  Phonogram:   i. 

Pronounce  exactly  like  e. 

See  remark  on  the  use  of  suffixes  on  page  35. 

fat'ig^,  magaz'in^,  marm^,  merino,  poli'g^,  trio,  val'is^. 


tf*K< 


PHONETIC   LIST  NO.   50. 

New  Phonograms:   ph  and  gh. 

Pronounce  exactly  like  f. 

See  remark  on  the  use  of  suffixes  on  page  35. 

camphor,  glpher,  coyigh,  dolphin,  draught,  enough, 
hyphen,  la]igh,  laughter,  nephew,  orphan,  pamphlet, 
phaeton,  phe^nt,  Philip,  phlegm,  phlox,  phonetic, 
physic,  roughly,  spher^,  sphinx,  sulphur,  tojigh,  to]igh^n, 
trough,  typhoid,  whoctp  ing-co^gh. 


68  THE    RATIONAL    METHOD    IN    READING. 

PHONETIC  LIST  NO.   51. 

New  Phonograms:  (51,  (5£,  £1,  Sfe,  and  tl. 

Pronounce  sh.      See  remark  on  the  use  of  suffixes  on  page  35. 

aetl^n,  addition,  affeefl^n,  affliction,  aiK5i^nt,  attention, 
a]ieti0n,  ea^ti^n,  *ea]itl^us,  condition,  delictus, 
excursion,  fero<5i0us,  friction,  grax510us,  lii^(5ijzhis,  martial, 
mention,  motion,  musi(5i^n,  nation,  na]/ig£jkis,  notion, 
partial,  5(5S^n,  omisgl^n,  pasSl^n,  pati^ng^,  patient, 
pension,  permission,  physilidn,  portion,  position, 
pre6i^us,  relation,  spa(51^us,  spe<51^1,  station,  suspM^n, 
suspidi^us,  vacation,  vexation,  vexatious,  vi(5i^us. 


MANUAL    OF    INSTRUCTION    FOR    TEACHERS.  69 


SPELLING  AND   THE   ALPHABET. 


During  the  second  and  third  half-years,  spelling  should  be  taught  by  two 
methods,  the  sentence  method  already  described  (pp.  29-31),  and  a  method 
which,  for  want  of  a  better  name,  may  be  called  the  series  method. 

The  sentence  method  should  deal  with  homonyms  (see  page  31)  and  all 
other  useful  words  that  do  not  occur  in  phonetic  series  of  three  or  more. 
By  its  use,  the  scholars  should  learn  to  spell  from  a  hundred  to  a  hundred 
and  fifty  words  during  the  half-year. 

The  series  method,  which  combines  in  a  wonderfully  effective  way  eye 
perception  with  ear  perception,  should  deal  with  all  words  (except  homonyms) 
that  occur  in  phonetic  series  of  three  or  more.  A  good  teacher,  after  a  little 
experience,  will  easily  teach  by  this  method,  during  the  second  half-year, 
at  least  two  hundred  words  in  addition  to  those  she  teaches  by  the  other 
method. 

By  a  phonetic  series  of  words  is  meant  a  series  in  which  there  is  an  ele- 
ment, nearly  always  compound,  common  to  all  the  words,  but  preceded  in 
each  by  a  different  consonant  or  combination  of  consonants. 

Examples  :  —  ill,  bill,  chill,  drill,  Jill,  etc. ;  —  at,  bat,  cat,  chat,  fat,  flat, 
etc. ;  —  brine,  dine,  fine,  line,  mine,  etc. ;  — fun,  gun,  run,  sun,  shun,  spun,  etc. 

The  following  is  a  description  of  the  series  method:  — 

The  teacher  first  selects  a  complete  series  of  words.  From  this  series 
she  strikes  out :  —  1.  All  homonyms.  2.  Every  word  containing  any  letter 
which  the  scholars  have  not  yet  learned  as  a  phonogram.  3.  Every  word 
which  the  scholars  would  not  understand  in  conversation. 

She  next  teaches  the  names  of  all  the  letters  found  in  the  series  when 
thus  revised. 

The  scholars  being  thus  prepared  for  the  work,  the  teacher  writes  upon 
the  blackboard  the  element  common  to  the  series,  which  may  be  either  a 
simple  word  like  old  or  a  meaningless  combination  like  ine,  and  has  the 
scholars  read  it.     In  this  presentation  she  uses  diacritical  marks  if  neces- 


70  THE    RATIONAL    METHOD    IN    READING. 

sary ;  but  in  case  she  does  so,  she  erases  the  element  as  soon  as  it  has  been 
read,  and,  immediately  rewriting  it  unmarked,  requires  it  to  be  read  again. 
The  lesson  then  proceeds  without  marks  in  this  fashion,  the  common  element 
being,  let  us  say,  ine :  — 

T.   Now,  children,  what  do  you  say  this  is  ? 

Cli.   Ine. 

T.  Close  your  eyes.  (Children  obey.)  Now  those  who  remember  how 
ine  looks,  show  hands.  (Children  obey.)  Open  your  eyes  and  write  ine 
without  looking  at  the  blackboard.  (As  soon  as  the  children  have  done  this, 
the  teacher  makes  a  rapid  inspection  of  their  slates  or  papers  to  make  sure 
that  all  have  copied  the  element  correctly,  a  right  beginning  being  absolutely 
essential  to  success.  If  she  finds  any  that  have  not,  she  simply  erases  what 
they  have  written,  and  tells  them  to  look  better  and  write  again.  No  further 
inspection  is  made  until  the  end  of  the  lesson.) 

T.    (Returning  to  blackboard)  What  is  this  on  the  blackboard  ? 

Cli.   Ine. 

T.    (Prefixing  an  /)  Now  what  have  I  made  of  it  ? 

Cli.   Fine. 

T.  Close  your  eyes.  (Children  obey.)  Those  who  remember  how  fine 
looks,  show  hands.  (Children  obey.)  Open  your  eyes  and  write  fine  without 
looking  at  the  blackboard.  (While  the  children  are  writing  the  teacher 
erases  the  /.) 

T.  What  have  I  here  now? 

Ch.   Ine. 

T.    (Prefixing  an  Z)  And  what  now  ? 

Ch.   Line. 

T.  Close  your  eyes.  (Children  obey.)  Who  remembers  how  line  looks  ? 
(Children  raise  hands.)  Open  your  eyes  and  write  line  without  looking  at 
the  blackboard.     (While  this  is  being  done  the  teacher  erases  the  I) 

T.   What  do  you  now  see  on  the  blackboard? 

Ch.  Ine. 

T.    (Prefixing  an  m)  And  what  now? 

Ch.   Mine. 

T.  Close  your  eyes.  (Children  obey.)  Who  remembers  how  mine  looks  ? 
(Children  show  hands.)  Open  your  eyes  and  write  it  without  looking  up, — 
etc.,  etc.,  etc. 


MANUAL    OF    INSTRUCTION    FOR    TEACHERS.  71 


Having  had  the  entire  series,  or  as  much  of  it  as  she  deems  sufficient  for 
a  lesson,  written  in  this  way,  the  teacher  next,  as  a  drill  upon  letter  names, 
lets  some  scholar  who  has  written  all  the  words  correctly,  spell  them  aloud 
from  the  slate  or  paper,  while  the  others,  listening,  make  a  cross  at  the  end 
of  each  one  they  have  spelled  correctly.  She  then  has  the  words  erased 
(if  on  a  slate)  or  turned  down  (if  on  paper),  and  proceeds  to  test  her  work  by 
dictating  them  in  a  different  order  and  without  any  blackboard  accompani- 
ment.1 This  generally  closes  the  lesson,  though  some  teachers  will  doubt- 
less prefer  to  go  a  step  farther  and  close  with  a  quick  exercise  in  the  oral 
spelling 2  of  the  words. 

Of  course,  words  taught  in  this  way,  like  words  taught  in  any  other  way, 
that  the  knowledge  may  be  retained,  must  be  frequently  reviewed.  It  fol- 
lows also,  that  in  sentences  prepared  for  dictation  to  the  class,  these  words 
must  have  representation  as  well  as  the  words  taught  by  the  sentence 
method. 

It  must  be  evident  to  the  least  thoughtful,  that  the  series  method  of 
teaching  spelling  will  strongly  reinforce  the  work  done  in  reading ;  for  the 
common  element  that  runs  through  a  series  of  words,  having  been  carefully 
and  repeatedly  studied  during  the  spelling  exercise,  will  thereafter  be  readily 
recognized  by  most  of  the  pupils  as  a  compound  phonogram,  and  will  there- 
fore serve  as  an  additional  "  short  cut "  to  word  recognition. 

In  teaching  spelling  by  the  series  method,  the  work  should  be  carefully 
graded  as  regards  the  lengths  of  the  words.     A  series  in  which  the  common 


1  The  author  has  lately  given  many  lessons  like  the  foregoing  to  Brooklyn  classes  in 
their  second  half-year.  In  few  cases  where  the  first  half-year's  phonetic  work  had  been 
well  done  did  the  number  of  words  misspelled  on  the  test  above  mentioned,  exceed  one 
or  two  per  cent. 

2  Observe  that  this  is  not  oral  spelling  in  the  ordinary  sense,  where  the  exercise  is 
a  drill  in  ear  recollection  exclusively.  In  this  oral  spelling,  there  having  been  no  memo- 
rizing by  oral  repetition  of  letters,  the  effort  is  to  get  at  the  letters  by  remembering  how 
the  word  looked.  The  exercise  is  therefore  mainly,  if  not  wholly,  one  in  visual  recollec- 
tion. 


72  THE    RATIONAL    METHOD    IN    READING. 

element  contains  three  letters  should  on  no  account  be  used  while  there 
remains  as  yet  unused  a  series  of  equally  useful  words  in  which  the  common 
element  contains  but  two  letters. 

Toward  the  end  of  the  third  half-year  after  the  scholars  have  learned  all 
the  letters  by  name,  they  should  be  taught  to  say  them  in  their  alphabetical 
order.     The  reasons  for  this  are  too  obvious  to  require  statement. 


\  '-J.  ft  a  fty 

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Stepping   Stones   to    Literature. 

A  Unique    Series    of    Eight  School    Readers 
upon    an   entirely  New   Plan,   Brilliantly  Illus- 
trated with  Masterpieces  and  Original  Drawings. 
By  Sarah  Louise  Arnold,  Supervisor  of  Schools,  Boston,  Mass., 
and  Charles  B.  Gilbert,  Superintendent  of  Schools,  Newark,  N.  J. 


This  series  marks  a  new  era  in  School  Readers.  It  combines  with  the  necessary 
technique  of  reading,  a  real  course  in  literature.  It  has  the  sincere  literary  atmos- 
phere. The  early  volumes  create  the  beginnings  of  a  literary  judgment.  The 
advanced  volumes  comprehend  the  whole  range  of  the  world's  best  writing.  The 
pupil,  at  the  end  of  the  course,  knows  what  literature  means. 

In  this  achievement  these  Readers  stand  absolutely  alone.  They  justify  the 
following  deliberate  characterizations : 

They  are  the  most  interesting  Readers  ever  published. 

They  surpass  all  other  Readers  in  wise  technique. 

They  are  superlative  in  stimulating  thought  and  creating  taste. 

They  are  unequaled  in  attractiveness  of  illustration. 

They  give  a  better  idea  of  the  world's  great  literature,  and  more  of  it,  than 
can  be  found  anywhere  else  in  the  same  space. 

A  Mark  of  Their  Acceptability. 

In  their  first  year  they  were  adopted  by  Boston,  New  York,  Brooklyn,  Phila- 
delphia, Chicago,  St.  Louis,  Baltimore,  Atlanta ;  by  over  a  thousand  smaller  towns ; 
by  hundreds  of  counties  j  and  by  the  State  of  Virginia. 

Patriotism  in   These  Readers. 

The  entire  series  is  peculiarly  rich  in  selections  and  pictures  closely  connected 
with  American  history  and  American  greatness,  well  fitted  to  stimulate  love  of 
country  in  the  pupil.  The  "  Reader  for  Seventh  Grades,"  is  distinctively  and  wholly 
American,  and  its  tales,  poems,  historical  extracts,  and  illustrations  are  alive  with  a 
proud  patriotism.  Send  for  Descriptive    Circular. 

Silver,  Burdett  and  Company,   Publishers, 

New  York.  Boston.  Chicago. 


■'A  ROYAL  ROAD  TO  READING/ 


THE 

RATIONAL   METHOD   IN   READING, 


First 
Year,  ( 


PRIMER* 

Material:  Conversations. 
Complete  Book.     Introductory  price,  36  cents. 

Part  I.  —Reading  by  the  Word  Method.    Introductory  price,  22  cents. 
Part  II.  — Sight  and  Phonetic  Reading  Combined.    Introductory  price,  24 


cents. 


FIRST  READER. 

Material:  Conversations  and  Stories. 
Introductory  price,  36  cents. 


Complete  Book. 

Part  I.  — Sight  and  Phonetic  Reading. 

ductory  price,  22  cents. 
Part  II.  —  Sight  and  Phonetic  Reading. 

price,  24  cents. 


Largely  Review  Exercises.    Intro- 
Advance  Work.    Introductory 


Second 
Yean 


SECOND  READER. 

Material:  Stories  and  Poetry.     Literary  and  Ethical. 
Complete  Book.    Introductory  price,  44  cents. 
Part  I.  —  Sight  and  Phonetic  Reading.    Advance  Work.    Introductory 

price,  24  cents. 
Part  II.— Sight  and  Phonetic  Reading.     The  Remaining  Phonograms. 

Reading  with  All  the  Phonograms.     Introductory  price,  28 

cents. 

THIRD  READER. 

Material:  Stories,. Poetry,  etc.,  from  History,  Folk  Lore,  and 
Standard   Fiction.    Literary  and  Ethical. 
Complete  Book.     Introductory  price,  48  cents. 

Parts  I.  and  II.  —  Sight  and  Phonetic  Reading.    Diacritical  Marks  omitted 
from  the  easier  and  more  familiar  Phonetic  Words. 

MANUAL  OF  INSTRUCTION  FOR  TEACHERS. 

Introductory  price,  36  cents. 

PHONETIC  CARDS  — 

First  Set.    To  Accompany  the  Primer.     Introductory  price,  36  cents. 
Second  Set.    To  Accompany  the  First  Reader.    Introductory  price,  48  cents. 
Third  Set.    To  Accompany  the  Second  Reader.    Introductory  price,  36  cents. 


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